Family Resemblance (NJ)

[Maira]

Those violet eyes had entranced her from the moment she had first seen them. The wisps of white-blonde hair that trailed onto her daughter's forehead above those eyes were just as precious. Sitting in the rocking chair in the nursery, holding her newborn baby daughter, the window open and the scent of lilac drifting in, Saiyuri couldn't be happier. She had just gotten up to put the now sleeping baby in her crib when the phone began to ring. The phone would just have to wait until she could put her daughter down.

Oh shit! Her phone was ringing! Scrambling out of bed, her dream temporarily forgotten, Saiyuri rummaged through her pile of clothes on the floor until she dumped her cell phone out of her jeans pocket. "Shit, shit, shit!" she growled when she saw what time it was on her phone's display.

The little light that flashed when she had voicemail was flashing so Saiyuri did as it beckoned and listened to her messages. There was one from her father left the night before, how had she not heard it ring then? The next voice she heard was her best friend Ayda's. Ayda was asking where she'd wandered off to and Saiyuri could only ponder how the hell she was going to explain all this.

"Well, better get my ass to school," Saiyuri grumbled as she pulled on her jeans. As she went to button them she gave out a low growl, her belly was just a little too big. Had she popped again? Giving up on the button she zipped them as far as she could and tucked in what she couldn't get fastened. She was about to reach for her sweater when she saw the gaping holes in the shoulders and with a sudden fury she grabbed up the already ruined sweater and tore it to shreds. "I can't believe this! My pants don't fit, my shirt is ruined, and I'm late for class, what else can possibly go wrong today?"

Tossing the sweater shreds on the floor, Saiyuri stood up with a huff and only then did she realize that her husband was laying in the bed she had just left. Immediately a soft smile came to her lips and her temper cooled a bit as she leaned in to place a gentle kiss on his cheek. "I love you so much Dominic," she whispered as she stood up and made for the door out into the main part of the basment apartment.

She had almost reached the door when she walked past a full length standing mirror set next to the closet and she stopped dead. The reflection in the mirror was not the one she'd been hoping to see this morning: black wings, crimson eyes, claws, and leopard spots. Spots she could cover in a pinch (she'd done it before), even the red eyes she'd dealt with before. There was no way in Hell that she could go to class with wings though. Clenching her hands in frustrated fists, only to unclench them when her claws dug into her palms, Saiyuri tried breathing slowly and concentrating on relaxing. Wasn't that what Dion had told her to do the night before?

After a few moments of slow calm breathing and concentrating on pleasant things so she'd relax, Saiyuri felt a twinge of Shift. Smiling to herself she opened her eyes....and nearly cried! Now she not only had wings, but a leopard tail as well! So much for the relaxing bullshit! "Fine, fuck it! I give up!" she growled at her reflection and she ran over to her phone, grabbed it up off the floor, and then stormed out of the bedroom.

Dialing Ayda's number by memory, Saiyuri waited and waited and waited. Damn girl had the voicemail set to pick up after seven rings and she wasn't answering. When Ayda's message came on Saiyuri waited until the beep and then left her message: "You aren't going to believe where I've run off to unless you come see for yourself. Call me when you're done with your last class today, I don't think I'll be going anywhere. I'm having another Shifting episode today among other things. Anyway, talk to you later." The message had been in as calm a voice as Saiyuri could manage but once she had hung up she reached for a pillow from the couch she happened to be standing by and threw it against the wall, giving a scream of frustration.

Feeling better for the moment, Saiyuri stuffed her phone in her pocket and headed for the stairs up to the main house. As she passed through the little kitchenette she noticed that the peace lily that had been sitting on the dining table was as withered and dead as any of her own houseplants back home. To the pathetic specimen she said, "And I thought Dion said you were supposed to be tough little buggers." She picked up the plant and made her way upstairs.

Emerging from the basement, Saiyuri looked around and listened for signs of life. Voices from the kitchen told her that she wasn't the only one awake. Shrugging she made her way in that direction. As she passed the livingroom she could see the sleeping figure on the couch, taking a few steps closer she could see it was her mother. With a soft snicker she padded silently on her barefeet over to the couch and coffee table and set the dead plant on the table where Dion wouldn't miss it when she awoke. Once the plant was settled she turned and made her way into the kitchen.

Pushing open the door to the kitchen Saiyuri got her bearings quickly, only two people in the room aside from her but neither were anybody she recognized. "Morning," she said non-chalantly as she made a bee-line for the coffee. She knew caffeine technically wasn't good for the baby but with the morning she'd been having she felt she deserved it.

She knew she must make quite the sight and the looks from what likely were two of her younger siblings just confirmed it. Her long black curly hair was a mess, she had wings, spots, a tail, claws, crimson eyes and unlike when she'd been wearing her sweater the night before, her pregnant belly was quite obvious through the t-shirt she had on.

Grabbing up one of the mugs on the counter and pouring herself some coffee Saiyuri introduced herself, "I'm Saiyuri. I'm not sure how much you guys know, though it would have been rather hard to miss last night, but I'm Dion's oldest." Taking a sip of her hot coffee she waited as it trickled down her throat before continuing. "Sorry if it seems like I'm barging in but my pregnancy has been doing rather odd things to me that raised some questions about just who my mother was." At this, she pointed at her wings. "I never had those until I got pregnant. As for the spots and tail, I'm half Pard." She couldn't help but shrug. Even to her, her story sounded completely insane. Taking another sip, the coffee was still too hot to take a proper drink, she waited to see what (if anything) her two siblings had to say.

[Shinigami]

Hawk had gotten his own cup of coffee and was already halfway through it, beginning to wake up. He seemed very talkative today to an outside observer, but a better trained person would realize that he is quite skilled at keeping the conversation as far away from himself as possible. He was still talking with Faith, or rather teasing her about not getting coffee, when someone walked into the room and announced themselves.

Hawk looked up and blinked, quite surprised at the sight he saw, not used to seeing such a shift, but because of it he had recognized her in an instant. In his eavesdropping the previous night he found out her name was Saiyuri, and it was confirmed when she introduced herself. He had heard enough to know where the spots, tail, and claws came from, and the eye color and wings were nothing special to him, as he grew up in an Angel/Custos household.

He gained his wits back very quickly, eyeing the coffee cup in Saiyuri's hand and raised an eyebrow. He found it slightly amusing, especially since it was quite obvious Saiyuri was pregnant, as opposed to Faith. He nodded to her her once she finished speaking, decided to introduce himself. "I'm Hawk, youngest of the triplets, which would make me the fifth kid in the line, including you. I heard enough last night to know what's going on, so you really don't have to explain. I met your husband, Dominic, this morning on the porch."

Hawk paused there are a bit, poking at his bowl of fruit while taking a gulp of coffee, smirking at Faith as he resisted the urge to wave it under her nose. Then his gaze flicked back to Saiyuri. "Do I have to tell you what I told Faith here about how caffeine is bad for babies?" He poked at her lightly with his fork, trying to make her feel more like she belonged. If he didn't he'd get an earfull from his mother, but also, the more relaxed she was the more information he could get about all the drama business from last night.

[Demeter]

Faith managed to blink at the physical appearnce of the newest member of the family. After deciding that it wasn't the oddest thing she'd ever seen, though it was quickly climbing up the charts, Faith looked from Hawk's coffee cup to the one the new girl held and whined. "How come she gets to have coffee?" She really didn't care just how loud she got as she knew that Dion had the ability to sleep though 12 screaming children that were right in the next room.

Faith looked at Saiyuri and smiled. "I'm Faith, the foster child and possible mother of Tempest's child...though he is not here at the moment. I'm child number seven, in the ranking order but the same age as the triplets." Faithg scooted out from the table and walked over to the cabniets. If she wasn't getting any coffee, she was going to get something that would improve her mood.

***

Dion opened her eyes, awoken by all the noise in the kitchen and the first thing she saw was the crumpled peace lily. Dion shrugged her shoulders and rolled over. She's give the plant to Bella later. She could always use something new to experiment on. Dion snuggled down into the couch, wrapped her arms around the pillow and wished that everything was just sane.

***

Ayda jumped when the cell phone in her bag started to ring. She cursed under her breathe as the rest of the class giggled. She had one of those distinctive ring tones that anyone else rarely had. After finding the phone and noting that is was Saiyuri, Ayda silenced the ringer and glanced towards her professor. She whinced. Professor Mariad was not a happy lady.

Ayda stuffed her phone back into her bag and stared at her notebook. Right...Remember to silence the phone.

[Maira]

Saiyuri raised an eyebrow as Hawk poked at her with his fork and reprimanded her about the coffee. When Faith whined and asked why she couldn't have coffee but Saiyuri could, Saiyuri couldn't help but laugh. "Two reasons I get coffee and you don't. One, I'm just bout into my second trimester so its safer, two, you're not stuck looking like this." She smiled at Faith and then turned to Hawk and poked at him before snagging a piece of his fruit.

After popping the fruit in her mouth, savoring the flavors briefly as she chewed and swallowed, she asked him, "So what was Dominic doing on the porch? I saw him in bed when I woke up so I just assumed he got back last night after I fell asleep. I guess he went for a walk when all of us sort of ganged up on Rhystic...." At this, Saiyuri couldn't help but keep her face from flushing with embarrassment. She couldn't believe how she'd acted the night before.

Luckily, Hawk hadn't seen what had happened even if he had heard everything that was said. It was bad enough that her mother and her aunt, and of course the men, had seen her out of control like that but what if her siblings had seen her like that? Would they judge her? Gods, why did her family have to be so damn complicated?

Wanting to turn the topic away from her poor behavior, Saiyuri turned to Faith and asked, "So how far along are you? You're not showing at all so you can't be too far. I'm supposedly only three months but the way my belly is growing I think the doctors miscalculated." Feeling all maternal, Saiyuri set down her coffee and placed her hand on her belly, a small smile on her lips.

Looking back to Hawk she asked, "You guys have any milk? Or more of that fruit?" She was starving suddenly and she didn't want to wind up eating all of his fruit. The baby was getting quite demanding food wise lately and much to Saiyuri's dissappointment, none of her cravings had been for icecream or any of those other unhealthy things pregnant women supposedly crave. Fruit, lots and lots of fruit, and all sorts of other fresh foods. No fast food for this pregnant lady.

[Shinigami]

Hawk hissed lightly as a piece of fruit was stolen from his bowl. He put his feet up on the chair, leaning his knees against the table edge and cradled the bowl in his arms, keeping it from being ravaged again. His eyes were narrowed slightly in annoyanceand he inched his coffee cup closer to his person as well. Hawk held the bowl just under his chin as he popped a few more pieces of fruit in his mouth.

Hawk had to wait until he was finished with his food before he could reply, but it was obvious he was grumpy now from the stealing of his food. He shrugged a bit at Saiyuri. "He was asleep when I went out to get the paper. He just went down to check on you less than a half hour ago." His voice was quieter than before, and he deliberately avoided the topic of his uncle. Hawk saw his uncle in a completely different light compared to the rest of his family, so he often stayed away from talking about him.

Hawk had lived with Rhystic and his grandfather, Marrus, for close to a year during his mid-teens, and his uncle seemed to take to him and treat him nicely. At least he didn't treat him the way he treated Tobin. Hawk thought Rhy was friendly and fun to be around, but maybe that was because he was more Custos in nature than the majority of his family. He had heard the taunting and the sounds of the obviuous fight that insueded, so he knew it was Rhy that had really started the whole thing, so he really had nothing to add.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard fruit being mentioned. He had heard her address Faith and tuned it out, but now it seemed the conversation was either being brought back to him, or addressing them both. Hawk realized quickly that Saiyuri was asking about food for herself, and she was probably starving with the influence of being pregnant and all the stress yesterday must have brought. He noddedto the fridge. "There is still more fruit in the fridge, and there's regular and soy milk in there, too. There should be plenty more besides that if you want something else." He knew women usually craved odd and seemingly disgusting combinations of food.

[Demeter]

Faith blinked when she came up with a unopened box of sugar-coated ceral. Since when did ceral geared towards children end up in this house. Faith stared at the box and grinned when she saw the fang marks on the corner. Rowan must have coerced his aunt into keeping the stuff around. Faith rummaged around the kitchen until she came up with a medium sized serving bowl and large spoon.

Faith ignored any looks the other two occupants of the kitchen might have been giving her while she poured ceral into the bowl, and after handing a glass of milk over to Saiyuri, procedded to empty most of the what was left in the carton into the bowl. "It's not fair, you know, that you get to have coffee. And that the father is nearby." she said to the other pregnant lady as she leaned against the counter and munched her way through her breakfast. Faith squirmed around a little as the edge of the granite countertop was digging into her back. "I'm guesstimating that I'm roughly about two months. I just noticed really. So, Saiyuri, how do you like the family so far? " She glanced towards Saiyuri stomach; which seemed just a little too big for three months. "You're sure that you're only three months along?"

[Maira]

Saiyuri smiled gratefully at Hawk as he told her there was more fruit in the fridge and made her way over to rummage. Once she had found something that caught her eye, grapes and cantelope, she shut the door and grabbed a bowl from where she'd seen Faith get one. When the other woman handed her a glass of milk she thanked her quietly and took a sip. "Mmm, much better than the coffee," she muttered to herself. As if in answer, Saiyuri felt what she thought might have been a kick from the baby in her belly. Her eyes opened wide and she looked down at her growing bump.

She'd heard Faith's words about how lucky she was to have coffee and the baby's father nearby but she was too dumbfounded to answer. Only when the other woman commented on how big she was did Saiyuri snap out of the daze that had overtaken her. Her head lifted until her eyes met Faith's and she answered a little bit bewildered, "I just felt the baby move, I must be farther along than that...." Her voice trailed off and she lowered her eyes again to her belly as she felt another tickle from inside.

Grabbing her bowl of fruit and her glass of milk, she took up a seat at the kitchen table and decided that eating right now would be better than thinking. She knew for a fact that she was only three months along, she had thought she'd been pregnant the month before and had gone in for a blood test and an ultrasound and everything only to be told she wasn't. The very next month she had become pregnant and all the tests, ultrasound, hormone levels in the blood, had confirmed when she went in that she was only 5 weeks along. There is no way the doctors could have been that far off.

Only once she had devoured all the fruit in her bowl did Saiyuri look at her siblings again and she asked Faith, "Is this your first baby?" At the look that came into the other woman's eyes she knew the answer was yes. "Okay, sorry, umm... Demeter had a mixed child, Rowan right? Do you know her phone number?" Saiyuri was trying very hard not to panic but she was loosing the battle. She really needed to figure out what was going on with her body, and now!

[Shinigami]

Hawk had relaxed his protective hold on his food when he saw the two women getting their own breakfast. He still had his feet up on the chair, but he was slouched down now with his bowl of fruit resting on his stomach as he ate. It wasn't the greatest position to eat in, but he was comfortable and didn't really care. He seemed off in his own world as he took a few more gulps of his coffee, but he was paying attention and noting the differences in what each of the women chose for breakfast, like Faith going for the sugary unhealthy cereal and Saiyuri going for fruit and milk.

And he knew he recognized that cereal. Rowan had to have gotten Dion to buy it for him, and now that he knew the little sneaking toddler could get sugary cereal smuggled into the house, he'd be on the lookout for it. Hawk wasn't a health nut, just a vegetarian, and rather liked sugary things. Mybe he'd get the kid to con Dion into putting more sugary things in the house.

Hawk was brought back into the conversation when he overheard Saiyuri mention the baby had just moved. He didn't know much of anything when it came to that kind of thing, but from Saiyuri's expression he guessed that was something that wasn't suppose to happen at three months. He was just listening in, as he usually did, and would probably speak up when the opportunity presented itself. It came up quickly when he heard his aunt's name, hearing Saiyuri ask for her number. "There should be an address book in the drawer just beneith the phone. I don't call her much, but I know mom keeps it there so we have her number."

[Demeter]

Faith, with a spoon stuck in her mouth, blinked at Saiyuri. "Yeah, that would be a little odd...baby moving at three months. Well, I think I recall Demeter having a strange pregnancy. Something about having Rowan way early or something." She leaned over a bit and yanked the junk drawer open. Faith set her bowl of ceral down on the counter and rifled through the drawer while talking to her foster brother. "Don't you remember Hawk, Demeter called at like seven months to say that she'd popped but not to worry because everything was fine and Mom said to hell with worrying and rallied all the aunts into action and suddenly we were all supposed to troop over to Aunt Dem's house to get the nursrey ready?"

Faith grinned proudly when she found the address book and handed to Saiyuri. After the girl took the book, Faith went back to her ceral and pointed her spoon at Saiyuri. "Not that you need to worry or anything like that because if something strange is going on it's probably normal and stuff. Demeter could probably tell you more, after all she lives with the hyperactive little brat of a mixed child." With that Faith smiled at Hawk and Saiyuri, waved and lefted the kitchen.

***

Dion groaned as she rolled up to a sitting position. Note to Self: Sleeping on the couch is bad for ones back. She glanced up as she heard the light smacking of bare feet on hardwood and glared at Faith with her serving bowl turned ceral bowl. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, hissing when it got tangled up in a snarl. "I raised you better then that and I know you can't blame horomones or anything. You think I don't know that you are always eating out of the serving bowls."

Dion waved Faith away and zeroed in on the kitchen. She smelled coffee. She ignored the children in the room, poured herself a cup of coffee and swiped a peice of fruit away from Hawk's breakfast. "If anyone needs me, I'll be up in my office. I need to see if anything can wait or be expediated so that I can take a vacation. To the tropics. Alone. On my own Island." Dion waved and left the kitchen as well, heading straight for the stairs and her office.

[Maira]

Saiyuri wondered vaguely if Faith was trying to be comforting with her ramblings about Demeter's early delivery. If she was, it wasn't working. In fact, if anything, it was making Saiyuri's panick even worse. If Demeter had Rowan at 7 months and her pregnancy was anything like Demeter's, that meant she was almost half way through hers!

She sat blinking at Faith's back as she wandered out of the kitchen. Within moments, Dion was on her way in making a bee-line for the coffee much as Saiyuri had. Her comment about needing a vacation Saiyuri was beggining to sympathize with way more than she liked. A seven month pregnancy just wasn't good. She hadn't had time to even get started on the nursery, or buy any baby clothes or anything!

As soon as Dion made her exit from the kitchen, Saiyuri snagged up the address book from where she'd set it down on the table next to her empty bowl and dug out her cell phone. After she had flipped the phone open and had punched in the numbers, Saiyuri held it between her ear and shoulder and proceeded to clean up her part of the breakfast mess. The phone was still ringing as she dumped her bowl and glass in the sink.

Muttering both to herself and Demeter as the phone continued to ring, Saiyuri made her way back out to the livingroom and then to the door that led to the basement. Last thing she needed was to be interrupted by any of her other siblings that might wake up, see her and start asking questions while she needed some of her own answered.

Finally when she was about halfway down the stairs a somewhat harried voice answered the phone on the other end. In the background, Saiyuri could hear Rowan singing at the top of his lungs, and what sounded like water splashing. Had she interrupted bath time? Oops....

Feeling only a moment of remorse, Saiyuri quickly expalined who it was and why she was calling. She ended her frazzled blurtings with, "If you get any free time today and could come over to Dion's I'd really like to talk to you about this. I don't think I'll be leaving for a while either.... My leopard spots and tail, and my wings have made an appearance and won't go away...." She knew she was rambling, her pregnancy seemed to make her do that alot, but she hoped that her aunt got the gist of all the information she had rattled off.

[Shinigami]

Hawk was content in his eavesdropping as he ate his breakfast. Since the others seemed to be off in their own troubles he didn't concentrateon protecting his bowl, instead he concentrated on eating from it. He was almost done when Dion had walked into the room and made a bee-line for the coffee, but Hawk thought nothing of it. That just meant there was one less person in the house he got to wake up in a few minutes. He didn't even notice Faith leave the room. He blinked when a hand appeared in his bowl, stealing his food no doubt, and almost jabbed the hand with his fork. Until he realized whose hand it was, that is. He knew better than do such a thing to his mother, especially after she'd spent the night on the couch.

He let her get away with a piece of fruit, hissing the whole time. He hugged the bowl close again as he muttered. "Why is it always -my- breakfast." Hawk quickly finished off what he had left and set the empty bowl down before he pulled his coffee mug close to finish off it's contents as well. He noticed Saiyuri still in the room, flipping through the address book, but that was only because he was dying for a cigarette, and Dion hated it when he smoked in the house, let alone around pregnant women. Once she left he smiled and pulled out his pack of cigarettes, setting them on the table so he could put his now empty bowl and mug in the sink. He made sure to open the nearest window as well to draw the smoke out before he pulled out a small ash trayand had himself his morning smoke. He would wake everyone when he was finished.

[Demeter]

Demeter scowled at Rowan as he sent another waver of bathwater over the edge of the tub. In the two minutes she'd been away from the bathroom, Hurrican Rowan had hit and now her once clean, and dry, bathroom was a disaster area. She stuffed the phone between her shoulder and ear while grabbing a hold of the shampoo Rowan liked. Demeter held Rowan down as he tried to get a hold of the phone and rubbed shampoo into his hair.

She quickly recognized Saiyuri's voice and sighed. She'd hope that the girl would have a nice, semi-normal pregnancy but, with all the conficting emotions last night, that had been blown out of the water. "Don't worry, Saiyuri. I'll be over as soon as I get my brat and my bathroom cleaned up." Demeter rolled her eyes as Rowan asked if he was the brat and then giggled. "Yes, monster, you're the brat."

After saying good-bye to her newest neice, Demeter hung up the phone and let it drop onto the closed toilet seat. She knew she probably sounded like the worst mother in the world but she loved her little boy and no delusions about him. Demeter unfolded a large towel and caught Rowan as he tried to dive past her. "Oh no you don't," she muttered as she dried him off. "No running naked in the house. Now, we are going to visit Aunty Dion again and you are going to be a good boy while we visit."

***

Dion sighed as she sat down behind her desk. She needed to take care of few things. Kill off a few people. Harass her father. Hunt down the woman that had been her step-mother when Saiyuri was born and do some maiming. She flipped through a couple pages of her planner and groaned. "What I need is a break."

Dion got up and picked up the pair of sai that had been placed on desk. She didn't remember putting them there so it had probably been Rayne when she was doing her night owl thing. Dion replaced the sai on the wall and gave the blades a pat. She still had some talking to do with Saiyuri but the girl had looked more then a little frazzled this morning so she'd let her rest even more.

Dion exited her office and crossed into her room, where she sank into the bed. "Not only to my own little island in the tropics but one where no one can reach me. For a week or two. No one around to bother me...well, maybe Tobin." Dion curled around a pillow and whimpered. Just when she thought her life had settled down.

[Maira]

Saiyuri thanked Demeter repeatedly when she said she'd come over and she couldn't help but smile at the woman calling her son a brat and a monster. She'd practically raised her younger siblings and she had called the youngest those names, and worse, on more than one occaision.

When she finally flipped her phone closed Saiyuri was back in the basement apartment and was about to flop on the couch when she felt her wingtips brush the back of her calves. Grumbling, Saiyuri glared at the couch and left the living room to go check on her husband.

Dominic was just opening his eyes when Saiyuri entered the bedroom and he smiled at her warmly saying in a gruff whisper, "Mornin lover." Saiyuri's musical laugh melted his heart and when she came and climbed on the bed next to him his smile grew. He had noticed her spots and her wings when he had crawled in bed shortly after sunrise when Hawk had woken him so he wasn't too surprised to see them still in place. He figured that Saiyuri had either decided she liked them, not the most likely situation, or they had finally not dissappeared when she commanded. As it had been getting harder and harder for Saiyuri to control her shifts as the pregnancy progressed, Dominic wasn't surprised that her body had finally won over her mind.

After arranging her wings so she wouldn't hurt herself when she laid down, Saiyuri cuddled as close to Dominic as she could, just letting him hold her and breathing in his scent. After a few minutes of laying like that, Saiyuri told him everything that had happened and that she had learned that morning. By the end, the vampire was staring at his wife eyes wide and jaw hanging open. A seven month pregnancy?! How on earth would they get ready in four months? Granted it was only two less than the six months they had planned on but still. Saiyuri still had to finish school, which likely wouldn't happen if things progressed as fast as they were likely to do.

"Yuri, I don't know what we're going to do..." Dominic said softly, his voice full of concern, when his wife had finished relating everything to him. He watched her eyes fill up with tears and held her even closer when she began to cry silently. Things had not been easy on her so far this pregnancy and from the looks of things they weren't going to get any easier.

When Saiyuri finally rolled carefully onto her back, her tears no longer falling, Dominic for the first time that morning got a good look at her belly. Sitting up in a rush, Dominic placed his hands on the bump and asked in astonishment, "This happened overnight?!" How had she gotten so big in one night? She looked about five months pregnant now instead of the barely showing three months she had the day before. He watched as his wife nodded at him while looking at where his hands were resting on her belly.

Dominic was still staring at his wife's suddenly larger belly when he felt something bump his hand from underneath. Thinking it was just a muscle spasm from Saiyuri he wasn't prepared for her voice saying excitedly, "Oh yeah, I can feel the baby move now too. Did you feel it kick right by your hand?" Swallowing the sudden lump in his throat Dominic asked Saiyuri, "That was the baby?" She laughed again and told him it was.

Laying back down, Dominic stared at the ceiling and wondered to himself just how far Saiyuri actually was. A sudden thought came out of his mouth in a rush, "Do you think we could find out if its a boy or a girl yet?" He hadn't meant to actually say that out loud but once it was out, Dominic had to admit it was a good question. At least knowing what they were having the mad scramble to get everything together might not be -as- difficult.

Rolling off the bed, Saiyuri heard Dominic ask his question and she smiled over her shoulder at him, "I'll ask Demeter when she gets here. In the meantime the little pest is hungry again even though I just ate. Come on up and have some breakfast." She held out a hand to her husband and dragged him off the bed. She only waited long enough for him to get dressed and then shoved him out of the apartment and up the stairs to the main part of the house. Once upstairs the couple headed into the kitchen so Saiyuri could make them both, and anybody else who might wander downstairs, some breakfast.

[Demeter]

Demeter hauled Rowan at out of the car and balanced him on her hip. Sooner or later, she'd have to stop doing this. He really was getting to big to carry. She tossed the strap to the bag of Rowan's toys of her shoulder and marched her way up the walk. Demeter didn't even both to knock on the door and walked right through the door. After setting a wiggling Rowan down on the floor and pulling his shoes off, Demeter set him free. "Okay, Monster, go find the people."

As Rowan scampered off in the direction of the kitchen, Demeter headed for the stairs. She knew that Rowan couldn't get into too much trouble in the house. Dion had baby proofed it until it was a fort knox to anything below her waist when Rowan had proved to be a handful. Demeter opened the door to her older sister's room and smiled. Dion was sprawled out on her bed, sound asleep.

She crossed over and covered her sister up. She barely remembered when Dion had been pregnant with Saiyuri through she did remember the screaming matches between her older sister and Ellen, the woman who had shipped her neice away. After setting Dion's alarm for sometime in the afternoon, Demeter left the room and headed towards where her son was.

She found him the kitchen, being cute and trying to be fed. She took one look at Saiyuri and sighed. "What questions do you have?"

[Shinigami]

Hawk had stamped out his cigarette just as Saiyuri and Dominic entered the kitchen, happy he was able to finish off his smoke before he was caught. He nodded to them offering Dominic a curt "Morning" before he decided it was time to wake Essence and Rayne and the evil early morning brother he was. He was cut short, however, when he heard the door open and was almost run down a fury of energy.

He recognized the blur as his cousin Rowan instantly, andstepped back to avoid hitting the little one. He heard the door close and saw his aunt Demeter appear a second later. He smirked. "Guess I'm not the only early riser, eh?" It was muttered, but filled with amusement. He was at the stairs when he called back into the kitchen, giving them a heads up. "I'm dragging the others down for breakfast, so expect at least two more, if not three." He wasn't sure if Faith was going to come back down, but something told him she'd still be hungry.

***

Tempest was walking up the walkway in the early morning sun, trudging along slowly as he was tired from walking from the bus stop. His flight had gotten in before dawn and he didn't want to disturb anyone at the house, so he had waited for the earliest bus and decided to just hoof it from the stop. He'd had rougher hikes on his travels, but his fatigue had set in when he came with in sight of his home. He hadn't even noticed the car parked out front, seeing as it wasn't unusual. He was thinking about who would be awake, and whether or not he could silently slip in bed with Faith and surprise her when she woke.

He was truely happy to be home now that he had a real, solid reason to come back to the house. He approached the house with his backpack in place and a duffle bag thrown over one shoulder. Where as the bags looked dirty and beat to hell, Temp was relatively clean looking. He hadn't taken some time washing up again, shaving, and changing at the airport while he waited for a bus. His shirt was twisted from his bags and his hair was windblown, but he looked presentable otherwise.

Tempest tried the door, not very surprised to find it open, as it usually was, and stepped into the house. He sighed, smiling as he dropped his duffle bag by the door. He closed the door and shrugged the backpack off as well, leaving the bags by the door until he checked out if anyone was awak and downstairs yet. He stretched, a few stressed joints popping before he made his way down the hall. He heard voices coming from the kitchen as could smell the beginnings of breakfast.

Tempest entered the kitchen and took a deep breath, his stomach growly from the smell of food. He recognized his aunt and cousin immediately, and also noticed two new faces. That wasn't strange for there to be new faces in the house when he returned, and his aunt seemed relaxed enough so he settled for smiling as he let his presence be known. "Aunt Dem, fancy seeing you this morning." It was a bright statement, only managed in his fatigue because of his happiness to be home and the prospect of food. "Mmm, smells good. What's for breakfast?"

[Maira]

The way this family handled stress and anything weird was beyond Saiyuri as Demeter wandered into the kitchen and calmly asked if she had any questions. She was about to answer her aunt when a young man, who looked to be nearly the mirror image of his father, walked into the kitchen. When he didn't even bat an eye at seeing two strangers in the kitchen, one of them with an obviously pregnant belly, wings and covered in spots, Saiyuri was even more impressed.

Saiyuri smiled at the man she assumed was another one of her younger siblings when he asked about breakfast. To answer him she said, "Fruit for me but I'm making just about anything else anybody wants. What'll you have?" Then, realizing that while he may have taken the sight of her in stride, the man still didn't know who she was so she introduced herself. "By the way, I'm Saiyuri a newly found sister of yours as of yesterday. From what I've been told, I'm the oldest of the bunch of us." Then she poked her husband in the side making him squirm and added, "And this is my husband Dominic."

In response to being poked, Dominic glared playfully at his wife and then turned and smiled at yet another one of her siblings. He raised his hand in a half wave and said still a little groggy, "Hey."

Once the introductions were made and she had taken and started the man's breakfast order, Saiyuri turned her mind back to Demeter's purpose for being here. Looking up from some bacon that was frying, Saiyuri pointed at her belly and asked flat out, "Is it supposed to get this big almost overnight?" It may not have been the most logical place to start her questions but it was the most pressing one that Saiyuri and Dominic had at the moment. They could deal with spots and wings later.

~~~~~

As soon as his mother had set him free, Rowan had bolted for the kitchen where he heard voices. If there were people in the kitchen that meant he could get food even though he had already had breakfast before his bath.

Once in the kitchen, Rowan raced straight for the cupboard that he knew held the cereal his Aunty Dion had gotten him and flung open the door. He stood there blinking in confusion as he stared at an empty spot where the box had been. With wondering eye, he looked at Saiyuri and Dominic and asked, "Did you eat my cereal?" He wasn't accusing them, its just they were the only ones around to ask.

Dominic smiled and laughed as he answered, "No Rowan, we didn't eat it. Saiyuri is making breakfast though if you want something else." Rowan pouted for only a moment before he bounced over to Saiyuri begging, "Scrambled eggs please!" When she smiled and told him they'd be done soon, Rowan gave a toothy grin.

The boy had just focussed his attention on Saiyuri's big, black feathered wings, when he heard his mother come into the kitchen. She asked Saiyuri something and then another person came into the kitchen. Looking away from Saiyuri's wings, Rowan saw his cousin Tempest. Wings forgotten, the little boy ran straight at his cousin screaming, "Yay! You're home!" before barreling into the man's legs. He gave the legs a quick squeeze and was gone before he could be swept up into a hug.

His second breakfast being cooked, Rowan decided it was time to go see where Hawk had gone and help him wake people up. Once he found Hawk, Rowan helped get his other cousins awake by jumping on their beds.

[Shinigami]

Tempest was walking further into the kitchen when the yell from his cousin promted him to stop, knowing well enough that if he had continued walking he'd be knocked over. He smiled as his legs were accosted by the energetic little boy before he zipped off towards the stairs. He chuckled lightlyand nodded in greating to the others in the room. "Rowan's a spitfire today I see." He heard Saiyuri's introduction and he was confused for a second he shrugged it off easily enough before introducing himself. "I'm Tempest. I used to be oldest, but I can still claim to be the oldest of the triplets."

Tempest was left thinking about breakfast, rubbing his hands together lightly before he made his decision. "I think I'll keep it simple with bacon and eggs. I haven't eaten meat since I left and I honestly don't know how Hawk does it." He smirked about his comment, always one to bother his brother about being a vegetarian. He thought it odd that the obviously pregnant Saiyuri would be favoring fruit over any other kind of food for breakfast, but he knew each pregnancy had it's own strangeness when it came to food. He had certainly seen some weird eating habits and some almsot overly healthy ones during his travels.

The padded bench at the kitchen table suddenly looked like a very good place to be, so Tempest took a seat and sighed, leaning back against the wall. It felt good to get off his feet for a few minutes. Tempest blinked when he heard Saiyuri's question for Demeter. Over night?

***

Hawk was just about to Rayne's room when he heard the thundering footfalls of his little cousin and smiled as he watched the ball of energy appear in the hall. He waved him towards the room he was at and let Rowan bolt in first. Hawk snickered as the boy took to jumping on the bed right away and used the boy as an example, jumping on the bed with him as he prompted Rayne to wake up. "Time to get up! Up! Breakfast is almsot ready!" He yelped as Rayne yanked the covers, almost upended them both as she yelled at them. At least she was awake. "Lets go, Rowan, to Essense's room!"

They dodged pillows and ran from shouts as the barged straight into Essense's room and continued to the process. Once Essense was awake and yelling Hawk told Rowan to make a run for it and get his breakfast before he went up to the attic apartment to check on Faith. Hawk gave a loud knowck before yelling into the room. "Hey, you up for more breakfast? Saiyuri is cooking downstairs if you want any." He didn't bother waiting for a response.

Hawk was down the stairs and halfway across the livingroom when the voices of the kitchen reached him. He raised a brow as a familiar voice filtered through and he smirked. Now he -really- hoped Faith made her way downstairs. He was in for a bit of excitement this morning. He walked into the kitchen and made a face at the smell of meat cooking, but pushes it aside. He slapped his brother on the arm and smirked. "You're back early. Just a quick romp this time?" Tempest chuckled, shaking his head before slapping back lightly.

[Demeter]

Demeter raised an eyebrow as Rowan ran out of the kitchen and then turned to her nephew. "Rowan is a spitfire everyday, Tempest. I worry if he isn't awake before six." She turned back to Saiyuri and stared at the belly. "Ah, well...for more, the excessive speed in the increase of my waistline, shall we say, was a bit more gradual then that. I can only assume that because of all the heightened emotions and your wacked-out horomones that everything has been sped-up." Demeter glanced around the room and sat down opposite of Tempest. "Besides the belly, is anything else wrong. Other then the spots and such that is. I'm blaming that on the wacked-out horomones as well."

***

Faith chuckled as she made her way down the attic stairs. Rayne and Essence were both still screeching about Hawk's morning wake-up call. As she neared the kitchen, Faith listened on the conversations. She stopped when she heard Demeter say her husband's name. Tempest was home? She'd just talked to him last night and the man had said nothing about coming home.

Faith bounced in place for a moment and then dashed into the kitchen. She didn't even take the time to look around at the people gathered there, she just went straight over to Tempest and attached herself to him. "You're home! You didn't say anything about coming home last night! All that noise in the background, you were in an airport, weren't you? I'm so glad your home because everything has been tossed on it's head in the past tweleve hours or so. Saiyuri has appeared, as well as her belly, Rowan has met his father, along with the rest of the family meeting father. It's Niko! Of course, I think the finding out happened quite by accident. And I might just be pregnant. And Rhystic was here. He got threatened by three woman and bitten by Rowan. And then Tobin left. Oberon is apparently killing off his fish." Faith slumped forward and rested her head against Tempest's shoulder. "So glad that you are home."

[Maira]

Saiyuri took the pieces of bacon out of the frying pan, placed them on a plate and covered them with a paper towel before turning back to Demeter. "All of this is just hormones? You're kidding right? Baby's aren't supposed to grow this fast, even with wacked out hormones. All women, Pard or not, or in this case I guess, Custos, Angel, Pard or not, have wacked out hormones when they're pregnant but stress doesn't do this to anybody else."

Dominic, sensing Saiyuri getting worked up again, placed a hand gently on her shoulder and pointed at the egg carton she had sitting out. "You need to cook those too love," he said softly to his wife. Once she was distracted with cooking the eggs, Dominic turned to Demeter and said, "I think what she meant was that, she's never seen this happen to any other woman, stress or no." The gesture Dominic made encompassed not only the belly but the spots and wings. He'd seen pregnant Pard women before too and they had never been stuck with their spots during pregnancy.

When Faith bounced into the kitchen Saiyuri smiled. At least the other pregnant lady in the house wasn't having any wierd side effects. Then, when Faith started to ramble a mile a minute, Saiyuri smirked wickedly. She wasn't sure if Faith had meant to stick the bit about her being pregnant right in the middle of the ramble or if it had just come out that way.

Dominic practically choked on the piece of bacon he had snatched from the plate when he heard Faith's mention of being pregnant stuck in the middle of everything else she was saying. He was suddenly quite glad that Saiyuri was a relatively mellow person most the time. She was spazzy enough now being pregnant and if she'd been at all like Faith to start with before pregnancy he didn't think he'd have been left with any sanity by the time the baby was born.

[Shinigami]

Tempest was about to pose a question to allthose in the kitchen about the whole pregnancy situation, the very fact that he was healer making him interested, but he found himself suddenly glomped and knew instantly who it was. He smiled and wrapped his arms around Faith, listening to her chatter. He chuckled lightly as she put everything together and figured him out. He had indeed been at the airport when he called her last night. He hadn't told her because he was hoping to surprise her, which he had, though it was a bit differently than he had planned. He wasn't expecting so many people to be here.

As Faith chattered on, Tempest logged everything she said, getting a quick update of the crazy events of the family. He was surprised to find out that Rowan's father was "uncle" Niko. Not because he was a vampire, but because he never thought his aunt Dem and Niko had ever met. What he heard next cause him to freeze. The rest of her rambling was muffledto him, even though he unconciously kept logging what she said, the rest didn't seem quite so important. Faith was pregnant? A smile slipt across his face as he detatched Faith from him, hands on her cheeks to force her to look him in the eyes."Wait, back up. Your pregnant?"

Smiling like a loon, Temp held back the urge to whoop for joy. He -loved- kids, and he had wanted to have childrenwith Faith, plus he was planning on being home for a long period of time anyway. He asked again, just to make sure. "You're really pregnant? Seriously?"