There were few things more enjoyable than an over-excited child sharing her over-excitedness with the world in general. However, in some situations, it just wasn't appropriate - a dress fitting was definitely one of them. Lyneth wasn't known for being able to stand still at the best of times, and it didn't help that she was trying to bend over and watch what Miranda was doing all the time. But then, she had been very good during Piper's fitting, keeping still and quiet as her mother was pulled, pinched, and tugged about to get her wedding dress fitted perfectly. And now it was Lynnie's turn. Currently the tiny girl was bent almost double, her small face not far from Miranda's, peering at the hem in the woman's hand. "How'd you get it all neat and stuff?"

Miranda would have laughed, except for the fact that she was holding several straight pins in her mouth and the last thing she wanted to do was swallow them. Instead, she sighed and leaned back on her heels before pulling the pins from between her lips. "Lyneth, you little imp..." She reached out to tweak the child's nose. "If you don't stand up straight, it's going to come out all crooked. You don't want to look crooked, do you?" She had already told the little girl this at least once before, but it seemed Lyneth couldn't help her own curiosity.

"But I want to see what you're doin'," the tiny girl complained, obediently straightening up with a long-suffering sigh.

Behind Miranda, Piper swallowed a laugh at her daughter's ridiculous behavior, herself already changed back into her own clothes while she waited. "Lynnie, just be glad you don't have boobs yet," she told the Fae-child. "Getting a dress to fit over them is very tricky."

"Don't I know it!" Miranda remarked, mostly to herself. Piper wasn't too overly endowed, but the other bride who was part of this double wedding, and who just happened to be Miranda's daughter, was another matter. "Tell you what..." Miranda started, beaming an impish smile of her own at the little girl. "You stay perfectly still for five more minutes, and I'll buy you an ice cream."

"I can make boobies if you want," Lynnie began to offer, only to be cut off by the promise of ice cream. Her turquoise eyes lit up with hopeful excitement, the sweet little face producing a grin that was perfectly angelic and at the same time mischievous as all hell. "Can I have choklit ice cream?" she asked Miranda, not daring to turn that question onto Piper. The last two times Lyneth had eaten ice cream, the result had been vomit, but to be fair, that had to do with the sheer amount of the sweet treat she'd ingested.

"Only if you stand still," Miranda replied, emphasizing each word with a playful tap of a finger against Lyneth's pug nose. "Don't rush things, Lyneth. You'll have boobies soon enough and then you'll be complaining about having to wear a bra, like the rest of it." She bent over again, this time pinning the hem straight instead of sewing it. She'd have a much easier time sewing it without a certain little girl wiggling around inside of it.

"You, little woman, are getting entirely too good at manipulating adults for your own gain," Piper informed her daughter through a smile. But Lyneth had been good today, better than she had been expecting. The treat was coming anyway.

"But you lubs me anyway, doesn't you?" the tiny girl demanded, standing as straight as she could while Miranda moved around on her knees to get the hem pinned straight. "And if I wanted, my boobies wouldn't never need a bar."

"A bra," Miranda corrected as she folded up the hem and stuck another pin or two in the fabric. "You are going to look as pretty as a fairy princess in this dress, Lynnie dear," Miranda remarked, rather proud of her work, though without a pretty girl to wear such a creation, there wasn't much point in it. "You should have seen your Aunt Bethany when she got her first bra. You'd think it was the end of the world."

Lyneth giggled, the sound surprisingly filthy from such a little person. "Bef'ny's got big boobies," she agreed impishly. "An' she doesn't always wear a bar - bra - when Uncle Jason's around. Like he doesn't always wear knickers when she is."

Piper's head snapped up at this, the warning look in her eyes very nearly lost in the smile that was trying very hard to make itself known on her face. She glanced at Miranda. "Maybe I should talk to them about keeping their door shut when they're staying with us."

Miranda was about to agree with Lyneth's assessment of her own daughter's ample bosom when the girl continued, alluding to possibly having seen more than anyone - especially a young child - should have seen. She was shocked for just a split second before dissolving into a fit of giggles of her own. "Hopefully, they can wait until after the wedding to make me a gramma," she remarked. Miranda drew a sigh and leaned back on her heels again, smiling widely at the little girl in front of her who was dressed up all pretty in pink. "There, now. All done. Would you like to have a look in the mirror?"

"I've got a Gramma," Lyneth informed Miranda with a certain air of smug superiority. "An' I got a Granpa, too. They don't come here very much." Offered the opportunity to see herself in her pretty flower girl dress, she instantly forgot whatever it was she had been about to say about her grandparents, bouncing on her little bare feet with excitement. "Oooh, can I" Do I look all pretty and stuff, like Mummy did in her dress" Can I see Auntie Bef'ny's dress, too' An' keep this for myself?"

Miranda glanced over at Lyneth in her flower girl dress, a whimsical frown on her face that might have been mistaken for thoughtfulness. She was thinking about her own Bethany when she was that age and how quickly she'd grown up. Too fast, really. Was she really getting married? Miranda blinked the tears away before either of her guests could notice, knowing she was going to be a sobbing mess come the wedding day.

"You look absolutely scrumptious!" a male voice declared, and Miranda turned to find Desmond had somehow snuck in without being noticed. Thankfully, Miranda had already tucked Piper's dress away for safekeeping.

"Of course I am," she admitted with a certain amount of glee - yet another thing Lyneth had learned from her mother. "I get to tease you about not being able to keep up with a man in his mid-fifties, and I get to enjoy the new muscles that keep popping up to say hello every week. What's not to enjoy?"

"I used to think I was in pretty good shape until I started training with Rufus. That man is brutal!" He kissed the tip of her nose and smiled warmly, changing the subject again. "So, how did things go with your fitting" Do I get a sneak peek" It looks like Lyneth and Miranda are getting along well."

"Just hope he doesn't bring his Slayer in to show you how out of shape he is," Piper chuckled teasingly, her expression lightening even further as he kissed her nose. "The fitting" Went very well, actually, although I'm glad I brought the shoes with me this time. That hem is going to give me a few problems until I master walking in the thing. And no, you do not get a sneak peek. It's awfully bad luck, you know."

"I'm not sure I believe in that sort of thing," he remarked, but didn't press the matter. It could be argued that up until now, luck had definitely been on their side and neither wanted to push that luck, but Desmond was a lawyer and didn't really think that way. He was logical and practical, though he'd had to open his mind upon coming to Rhy'Din and accept that magic was not just something for fairytales. Between them, Desmond - who only a short year before had been a confirmed and very eligible bachelor - seemed the least nervous about the idea of getting married. What a difference one year made. "Can I get a sneak peek at something else then?" he asked, rather cheekily.

Her eyes narrowed with playful suspicion at his cheeky request, lips curving in a freshly teasing smile. "Well, all right," she conceded, without really knowing what he was referring to. She could guess, though. "But you know it gives me hiccups."

He laughed at her remark, assuming she had completely misunderstood him. "You're adorable, you know that?" But of course, she was. Where else would Lyneth have gotten it from' Certainly not from her birth father. Des touched his lips to hers in a fond kiss. No matter how tired or achey he might be, being with Piper and Lyneth always seemed to invigorate him.

His kiss found her giggling, though that eased off as she curled her arms around him tenderly. It really was remarkable the difference a year could make. Before Des had come into her life, Piper had really only smiled for Lyneth and meant it. Now, she barely seemed to get through an hour without a laugh or a true smile, the joy filtered back into her soul by the presence of a man who loved her, who loved her daughter, and who had made it his mission in life to make them both happy. And in just a few short weeks, that man would be her husband. Her smile reappeared as she thought of the surprise that was waiting for him on their wedding day, breaking the kiss with a grin. "So what, dare I ask, is the plan for the evening, Mr Granger?"

"Getting a certain someone to bed on time, so I can rut the hell out of her mother?" he teased, nudging her neck with his nose, followed by a brief kiss. He was mostly teasing, but not entirely. He loved every minute of the time he spent with both mother and daughter and he loved each one equally, though differently. In all truth, it was Lyneth who had first charmed him, but it was Piper he was marrying and Piper he'd fallen in love with.

"Oh, because that's what every woman wants to hear," his fiancee laughed, enjoying the warmth that they had cultivated over the past months to get to this point. She dropped her voice into a lower register, producing a truly awful impression of his accent. "Hey, baby, wanna rut?"

He smirked as she attempted to mimic his New York accent. "Hmm, don't mind if I do," he answered her question - or his own - with a grin, tipping her backwards and leaning over to give her a toe-curling kiss, those newly-sculpted muscles of his having no problem holding her there without dropping her.

The squeak that erupted from her at suddenly having her artificial horizon skewed was quickly swallowed up in his kiss, her arms wrapped around his neck to let her fingers play through his hair as she put herself entirely in his hands. After all, the worst that could happen was that they'd both end up on the floor, right"

It was taking a lot of dedication and hard work to get his body in shape, and though he wasn't doing it to for the wow factor he got from her every now and then, it was a nice bonus. He kissed her quite thoroughly before pulling her upright, a bit of a smug grin on his face at his new-found strength and skills. "I think my muscles are growing muscles."

Well, he'd certainly gotten the wow factor from her this time. Drawn back onto her feet once again, it took a moment or two for Piper to blink her eyes open, her expression more than pleasantly surprised by how buff he was getting. At this rate, she was going to have to start making an effort to raise her own fitness level, or their bedroom antics were going to be entirely too one-sided to be fair. Her hand spanned his bicep, squeezing with teasing thoughtfulness. "Are they going to have little muscle babies, too?"

"The only one around here who's gonna be having any babies is you," he replied, smiling and following that up with another kiss. He wasn't sure how many babies, and it didn't really matter. At least one child of their own had been foretold to them, but he wasn't really in any hurry. He was enjoying his little family just the way it was, and he loved Lyneth like his own. Adding more children to the mix was just a bonus, in his opinion. "I sort of promised a certain person a game of Candyland tonight, so long as there's no real candy involved."

Piper chuckled once more, more than happy to submit to however many kisses he wanted to give her. He was unusually affectionate today, which was probably a side-effect of the nerves for the upcoming wedding, but Piper was determined not to stress herself out about that day until Christmas was out of the way. "Oh, don't worry about candy," she assured him. "A certain person has been looking forward to playing with you all day, and is about to get all the sweet treat she's allowed for the day from an over-indulgent auntie."

Piper's smile was a little secretive as Miranda wished her luck for the teenaged years, pretty sure that by the time Lyneth decided to be a teenager, she would already be familiar with what was and wasn't appropriate for her age bracket. Still, the hug startled her, still a little awkward around the majority of the Grangers, and touched when they offered her any gesture of welcome or affection. "Thank you, Miranda," she murmured in answer, hugging the other woman in return. "For everything. I know I wouldn't be where I am right now if it wasn't for you."

"Nonsense, dear," Miranda replied, smiling as she let the young woman go. Piper was very nearly the same age as her Bethany, and it made Miranda very happy that the two of them were getting on so well together. Piper had been lonely long enough, and Miranda had made it her personal business to make sure she was lonely no longer. "You just needed a push in the right direction, and to be honest, so did Desmond."

Piper sighed softly, appreciating everything Miranda had done for them in the past year. She felt comfortable enough with the woman to share the one thing she had been keeping from Des, too. "Miranda ....dreams on Rhy'Din. Do they come true" I mean, the recurring ones."

Miranda arched a brow at the question, as unexpected as it was. There was much giggling coming from the kitchen, but she trusted Desmond had things - or rather, Lyneth - well in hand. "What sort of dreams, Piper" Good dreams or bad dreams?"

"Oh, this one is a bad dream," Piper nodded, hugging her arms about herself. She lowered her voice, just in case Little Miss Super Hearing was listening in while she played. "I keep ....I keep waking up with this horrible sinking feeling that Ollie's back," she confessed softly. "I know it's not true, but I can't help being afraid of what might happen if he did just suddenly reappear. Even after everything he did to us, I feel guilty for having our marriage annulled in his absence. The last thing I want is to hurt anyone, but that sense of anxiety over not knowing exactly what happened ....it won't go away."

Miranda frowned thoughtfully, as she considered Piper's confession. While Oliver was a Granger, so was Desmond, and it was fairly obvious which of the two held her love and loyalty. "Well," she started, "let me ask you this....If, by some strange quirk of fate, Oliver ever does manage to show his face again, what would your reaction be?"

"Before or after I punch him?" From the soft-spoken, gentle-mannered Piper, the words were a surprise in themselves. What added to that surprise was the sheer amount of vehement anger fueling the promise of bodily harm to her ex-husband if he dared to show his face to her again. "I can't forgive him for what he did, and I never will. I don't want him anywhere near my daughter again."

"Piper," Miranda started again, more gently this time, as she reached for her hand. "You're in love and about to get married. You have a beautiful daughter and a man who adores you both. Whether Ollie comes back or not, that's not going to change, unless you want it to change. Stop worrying about the past. No one can hurt you unless you let them." She gave the younger woman's hand a pat, hoping she'd helped a little. "Come on, before the two of them gorge themselves on ice cream."

Piper sighed softly, smiling as she curled both her hands about Miranda's, more reassured by the other woman's offered wisdom than she might have seemed. "Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference," she murmured, the old words of a prayer her parents had spent much of her adolescence quoting at each other over her head coming easily to her lips. She met Miranda's gaze. "Thank you. I needed to tell someone that." A clang from the kitchen suggested that Des and Lyneth had finally reached the point where they were about to spoon out the ice cream, which was the point where Piper probably needed to be at least visible to prevent them from getting over-excited with their portioning. "After you. You're the lady of the house, after all."

Miranda laughed, eyes sparkling with amusement, though she had taken Piper's confession seriously. She really didn't think the young woman had anything to worry about. Even if Ollie did return, that ship had already sailed. Miranda couldn't see anyone or anything managing to come between Desmond and Piper, and not for the first or last time, she wondered if she missed her calling as a matchmaker. "Don't worry, sweetheart. You're family now, and family takes care of each other." He brushed a motherly kiss against her cheek and drew her by the hand toward the kitchen, knowing Desmond could be as much a child as Lyneth, at times.

"Piper!" a decidedly male voice called from the kitchen. "Come tell our daughter that two scoops is plenty!" There was no mistaking the pronoun there - our daughter, not solely hers.

"Why do I have to be the bad parent?" Piper called back, her complaining tone completely undermined by the grin on her face as she walked with Miranda into the kitchen in time to catch Lyneth just about to put her entire hand into the carton of ice cream. "Lyneth Katherine, if you do that, you will never get ice cream again," she informed her daughter quite seriously, despite her smile.

Lyneth jumped, whipping her hands behind her back, and making a creditable attempt at a contrite expression. "Mummy, Daddy's cheating," the tiny girl declared, more than prepared to throw Des under the bus if it got her out of trouble, like any child. "He said two scoops, an' I got two scoops, an' then he licked the spoon!"

"Oh, you little imp!" Desmond exclaimed, a shocked look on his face at Lyneth's attempt to sidetrack and derail her mother's scolding. Okay, so maybe he did lick the spoon, but what did that have to do with the cost of tea in China? Or something like that. "Don't make me pull the lawyer card and cross examine you, missy!" He opened a drawer and pulled out a fresh spoon that didn't have any boy germs on it yet and held it out to Lyneth. "Two scoops. Any more than that and you'll make yourself sick," he warned. And really, no one wanted a sick Lyneth.

The tiny girl lifted her head from her intense scrutiny of her spoon, wearing more of the chocolate ice cream than she had managed to eat so far, but obviously enjoying herself anyway. "I maded one, but Mummy said if I ask Father Christmas for what I put on it, I'll prob'ly be disappointed, 'cos we don't have enough space in our house an' he doesn't want to make us all crowded," she offered. "I got to make it shorter."

Desmond took this in stride, not too terribly surprised by her answer. This was his first Christmas as part of the little trio, and he was almost as excited as Lyneth to be part of it. "Of all the things on your list, what do you want most?" he asked, hoping it wasn't a pony.

Lyneth considered this for a long moment, her little face screwed up with fierce concentration as she examined her mental list of what she wanted most for Christmas. "A baby," she said finally, and blinked as Piper choked on her mouthful, groping for a napkin before she spewed half-eaten ice cream across the table.

Des arched a brow, thankfully taking Lyneth's answer a little more in stride and not choking the way Piper had. He reached over to pat Piper on the back while he questioned Lyneth further. "You mean a little brother or sister?" he asked, assuming Lyneth didn't want a baby of her own. She was obviously far too young for that, but with Lyneth, you never knew what was going through her head.

Miranda chose just that moment to return, a small package in her hands. "Who's having a baby?" she asked, before gasping and glancing at Piper, who was the only person in the room capable of such a thing. "Piper Davidson! Don't you dare. Not until after the wedding!"

The little girl nodded, watching curiously as her mother spluttered and wiped her mouth clean. "'Cos Auntie Vicki's havin' a baby, an' Caroline is havin' a baby, an' Uncle Jon's friend is havin' a baby, an' I like babies, an' I want one to play with all the time."

Miranda's return marked the momentary cessation of that hopeful enthusiasm as Piper shook her head at the older woman. "No, not before the wedding," she promised, glancing at Des with a faint chuckle. "Maybe you should tell Daddy something else from your list, baby girl?"

Des was having a hard time hiding the smirk from his face at the banter between mother and daughter and now aunt, as well. "A baby isn't something Father Christmas can put in your stocking, Lyneth. What else would you like?" he asked, echoing Piper.

Miranda took a seat at the table, but said nothing, her thoughts still turning on the subject of babies. The Granger family was certainly growing by leaps and bounds lately, which had made Humphrey a very happy man in his old age.

"A Kneazle," was the next thing Lyneth came up with, eying Des with quiet suspicion. She had a feeling that this, too, was beyond the bounds of their ability to provide, but it was always worth putting things out there, just in case.

Piper, on the other hand, was smiling at Miranda reassuringly. "I promise, no expanding waistline until after the wedding," she assured the older woman in a quiet voice, confident that Miranda knew just why it had to wait. After all, Rufus must have told her by now.

"I'm sorry..." Des apologized, looking more than a little puzzled. "A what?" he asked, clearly never having heard of one of those before and clearly never having read Harry Potter. He was still having trouble wrapping his head around the fact that here, at the center of the Nexus, anything was possible, and that meant anything.

As for Miranda, she looked a little mollified by Piper's reassurance, her concern more for Piper's waistline and ability to fit into her wedding dress than anything else.

Lyneth frowned at Des as though he was being particularly dense. She hadn't actually had Harry Potter read to her, but she had watched three of the movies, and through conversations with other kids, had learned a fair amount about the fictional universe. "It's like a cat, but it's all clever and bushy and Hermioninny in the Harry Pottits books has a cat what is half a Kneazle, an' he's loads of fun," she offered up, earning herself a vaguely confused glance from her mother in the process.

"Harry..." Des started, furrowing his brows as he tried to sort out what she was talking about exactly.

Miranda beat him to it with a grin, proud to know something Des didn't. "Harry Potter," she said correcting Lyneth, with a cluck of her tongue at Des. "You need to brush up on your children's fiction, Desmond," she teased, reaching over to dip her finger in his bowl of ice cream and lick it from her finger with a wink at Lyneth.

"Oh, so Hermioninny would be Hermione, then," Piper made the logical leap as Miranda inserted the correct pronunciation for them, smiling as Lyneth giggled at the older woman's pilfering of Des' ice cream.

"Mummy says that it's dirty puttin' fingers in food," she informed Miranda rather imperiously.

"Only if your fingers are dirty," Miranda replied, hoping she wasn't undermining Piper's mothering with her mischief, but she was quick to change the subject. "I brought you something back from Bali," she said, reaching around behind her to pull out a small package and slide it across the table. It was small but heavy and covered in flowery pink wrapping paper.

"For me?" Lyneth's unnatural turquoise eyes opened wide with sweet excitement at the prospect of an unexpected present, her body turning toward Des in an unspoken request to be cleaned up so she could open the wrapped gift without getting it sticky. For a child who excelled at playing in the mud, she was a little fastidious about being clean.

He absorbed that quietly, accepting her judgement, a little disconcerted to know there were still some things about Rhy'Din that he didn't know about, including whatever a Kneazle was. "Okay, so if these things are real, what else is real" I mean, they're just something someone made up for a kid's book, right?"

"On your world, maybe." Piper winced, knowing that Des was still having trouble accepting that anything was possible on Rhy'Din. "Sweetheart, on my world, magic doesn't exist at all. There aren't even fairytales on the world I grew up on. And yet here, magic is everywhere, and so is technology, and all these different races I had never heard of. If Rhy'Din is the hub of everything ever created, then yes, anything that has ever been conceived of in what you consider to be fiction must have a place here."

"I know that, but..." Des frowned, unsure he wanted to have this conversation here. He didn't really want either Lyneth or Piper overhearing him and getting the wrong - or maybe the right - idea. He'd spent enough time in Rhy'Din to have seen a strange thing or two, but the last few months had been busy with the Nicoletti trial and he hadn't really had time to dig that deeply into all the weirdness that was Rhy'Din. "When you say everything, do you mean everything everything" Or just some things everything?"

"I mean everything everything, love," she told him gently, smoothing her hands against his sides as she looked up at him. Of course, for Piper, there was less everything to concern her - the wild and fantastical was something she'd had no exposure to before becoming pregnant, and therefore didn't have as vast an imagination as Des. "Why, does that change things?"

"No, it's just....I can understand there being magic. I can understand myths and legends having some basis in reality. What I can't understand is where the line is drawn. If something from a kid's book is real, what else is real" I mean....Is Bugs Bunny real" Is..." He lowered his voice so that only she could hear his next question. "Is Santa Claus real?"

She smiled faintly, lowering her voice with his. "There are several different incarnations of the figure you call Santa Claus," she told him softly. "Lyneth met Kris Kringle last year, and I understand that there is a Santa Claus, a P're No"l, a Father Christmas, and a St. Nicholas. I don't know how many others there might be, but we did find a couple of presents last year that no one had bought."

"Okay, so the jolly old elf is real....In all his incarnations. What about Bugs Bunny' Hell, what about Voldemort' Is he real" And don't tell me Harry Potter already vanquished him!" No, he hadn't read the books or seen the movies, but everyone knew that. "Is Frosty the Snowman real" What about, oh, I don't know....Peter Pan?"

Blue eyes widening at what appeared to be a certain amount of irritated panic beginning to stream off her fiance, Piper leaned back a little, at a loss as to how she could possibly set his mind at ease. "I ....I don't know what any of those are," she admitted. "Apart from Voldemort, and as far as I know, he doesn't exist here."

He was a lawyer, after all. It wasn't easy for someone like him to accept all of this at face value. He knew what he'd seen, and he had come to believe in the unbelievable, the unprovable. He wasn't feeling panic exactly, and for a lawyer, he had a pretty open mind, but he was going to have to rethink some of what he'd taken for granted here. Was it any wonder Rufus was a Watcher" He knew what the man did for a living, but he hadn't really thought about it that hard before. He decided this was something he needed to discuss with Rufus in further detail, but for now, he didn't want to alarm Piper with his worries. "It looks like I have more reading to do."

She frowned worriedly as he seemed to draw all that panic inward, squashing it down until it had no bearing on his appearance. "Are you sure?" she asked him softly. "I didn't realize you weren't aware of just what this place this. I thought you knew, especially since you've been training with Rufus. I don't entirely understand what a Watcher is, but apparently it involves knowing a lot about the things this place has in droves."

"I did and I didn't. I mean, I've been pretty busy with the trial and..." And with a dozen other things, not the least of which was Piper and Lyneth. And getting to know a brother and two sisters he hadn't known existed, along with the rest of his family; advising Humphrey and Caroline on legal matters; not to mention, training with Rufus to prepare himself for the inevitable confrontation with the Fae. "Don't worry, Piper. I'll get used to it." He offered her a reassuring smile and a kiss on the cheek. He had promised not to keep any secrets from her, and so far, he'd kept his promise. This wasn't a secret really; he couldn't very well tell her what he didn't entirely understand himself.

She stayed close to him, nose to nose, enjoying the quiet while Miranda was wrangling Lyneth. "It doesn't matter what is here or what isn't," she said softly. "It doesn't change the fact that I love you, and in just over a month, we are going to be married. We're in this together, whatever happens."

"No, it doesn't change a thing. It doesn't change how I feel about you or Lyneth. It doesn't change that fact that I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you. I just need to understand this place if I am going to be part of it. That's all." He kissed her again, softer this time, full of love and affection.

She smiled as he kissed her, nuzzling close as the sound of a key in a lock attempted to make itself known. It wasn't enough of a warning, however, to prevent Rufus from walking in on their kisses. "Oh, good grief, man," Miranda's husband laughed, setting grocery bags down on the kitchen counter. "Let your body recover a little before you start putting it to fresh uses."

Desmond smirked against Piper's lips upon hearing Rufus' remark when he stepped in the door. "There's always room for dessert, Rufus," he countered, though he wasn't really talking about food. "So, when do you and Miranda want to volunteer to babysit?" he asked, his arms remaining wrapped around Piper's waist. "Lyneth wants a baby sister or brother, and we need some practice."

"I think you're right there," Piper agreed with Miranda, gently inserting herself between the two dads with a cheerful grin down at Lyneth. "We have to go home and liberate the dog so we can go on this walk of ours."

As Lyneth clapped her mittened hands excitedly, never too difficult to please, Rufus subsided under the warning offered by Miranda. He was never going to be the best with small children, but at least he hadn't gone into detail. "It sounds as though it has been a pleasure to have you," he offered, shaking Des' hand in farewell. "Let me know when you're ready to get back on the horse."

"I'm ready whenever you are," Des replied, shaking the other man's hand. He'd come too far to give up now, no matter how hard it was turning out to be. Miranda moved over to escort Piper and Lyneth toward the door and away from the men, chit chatting about the wedding as they went.

"Give it a few days," Rufus suggested as the women moved toward the front door. "You've been pushing yourself hard, yes, but too hard, and you'll pull something. That will set you right back to zero again. You're doing well, Des. Just try not to forget to enjoy your family as well as protect them, all right?"

For a moment, Des thought maybe he'd done something to offend the other man, but then he realized this was all part of it. He could have easily become obsessed with idea of protecting his family, but what good was it to be able to protect them if he didn't have time to enjoy them and love them, too' "All right. Monday then?" he asked, grateful for a few days off to spend with his little family.

Rufus nodded, glad the younger man had caught on to the subtle hint not to let the training get in the way of the reason he was training in the first place. "Monday works," he agreed, tucking an arm about Miranda's waist as they joined the women by the front door. "Have a good weekend. Oh, and happy birthday, if I do not see you before then, Desmond."

Des smiled amicably as he rejoined the women. With everything that was going on, he'd almost forgotten that he had a birthday coming up. The year had flown by. Last year at this time, he was burying his mother, and while he still missed her, coming here had done much to heal his heart and ease his grief, and he had Miranda to thank for that. He leaned in to brush a fond kiss against her cheek, along with a whispered, "Thank you," before turning to scoop Lyneth up in his arms. "Ready, pumpkin? Say goodbye to Uncle Rufus and Aunt Miranda."

Bundled up in coat, scarf, hat, and gloves, Lyneth was pretty much a brightly colored woolen ball with a cheeky grin as Des scooped her up and onto his hip, one mittened hand pushing her hat up out of her eyes as she blinked over at Miranda and Rufus. "G'bye," she told them obediently. "Thank you for my pressie, an' for my ice cream."

Des waited for Piper, a hand at her back, the little half-Fae girl balanced against his hip as they stepped out of the house that Rufus and Miranda shared and into the snowy cold of Rhy'Din. "Anytime, Lynnie! See you soon!" Miranda said, waving to the little trio as they headed away before closing the door behind them to turn her attention to her newlywed husband.

Parents and child stepped away, full of waving hands and warm goodbyes, disappearing into the wintery wonderland that Rhy'Din had become. With the crunch of snow beneath their shoes, they were quickly out of sight, leaving Rufus and Miranda to one another's company in the warmth and seclusion of their home.

((This turned out longer than I was expecting! Fun, though. Huge thanks to Des & Miranda's players for this scene!))