Topic: And Baby Makes Three

Cody Mullen

Date: 2019-07-08 13:02 EST
It had been a long day followed by a long evening, but it had ended in the birth of a healthy baby boy. Come morning, mother and son were sleeping peacefully, understandably exhausted, but happy, and content. Cody was there, too, awake but reluctant to move for fear of waking his family. The newborn lie nestled between his parents, and Cody was counting the little one's fingers for the umpteenth time, in awe of the miracle that had produced this tiny being that was his son.

Across the bed, Brona stirred, yawning even before she came awake. Her eyes blinked open slowly, focusing on the ceiling before her head turned to find her husband and their son close by.

"Morning," she whispered, her voice gravelly after all the yelling she'd done the night before.

"Morning," Cody whispered back, not because there was anything wrong with his voice, but because he was afraid of waking the baby. "How are you feeling?" he asked, his first thoughts for her well-being. He'd heard enough to know that giving birth hadn't been easy, and he'd worried for her.

"Like a dead weight," she offered with a weary chuckle, forcing herself to roll over onto her side. Between them, the baby boy gurgled for a moment before settling back to sleep with a heavy sigh. "Did you sleep at all, sweetie?"

"Oh, he slept like a log," Cody replied, chuckling. He knew she wasn't asking about the baby, but about him, but he couldn't help telling her that. "As for me" I got a few hours. Just too excited to sleep, I guess." Over-tired, probably. He'd probably sleep well later anyway. "Hungry?" he asked, though he remained where he was.

She shook her head with a faint smile. "Not right now. He will be, in a bit." She looked down at their son, her smile deepening to find those tiny fingers wrapped about Cody's finger. "Think of a name while you were bonding?"

"Maybe," Cody replied with a half-shrug, that didn't quite work lying down. "What do you think of Jesse?" he asked. "It was my Pa's name," he told her - a rare mention of his family's past.

Gently laying her hand on the baby boy's tummy, Brona looked up at Cody. Despite her weariness, she almost glowed with affection this morning. "I like that," she agreed softly. "You, me, and Jesse."

"Jesse Mullen, just like his Granddad," Cody said, a soft smile on his face as he looked down at their son, whose fingers were curled around just one of Cody's. "You don't think Nate or Eli will mind, do you?" he asked, suddenly uncertain.

She shook her head gently. "Eli could'a called his son Jesse, but he didn't," she reminded him, her voice recovering but still soft in the morning stillness. "Nate'll be so proud of you for being a pa and giving your pa's name a new life."

"I hope so," Cody said, though he figured she was probably right. It wasn't really Nate he was worried about, as much as Eli, but Brona was right. His brother had had a chance to give his own son their father's name and hadn't. He couldn't very well fault Cody for doing so instead. "I suppose they'll all be here to see him later today."

"Everyone showed up for Liam and Noah, so we shouldn't expect any different," she pointed out with a smile. "They know better than to pile in first thing in the morning, at least."

"They'll be too busy with their own families to show up that early," he agreed. "How are you feeling?" he asked, with a hint of concern in his voice. He hadn't witnessed the birth, but he'd heard her screaming and knew it hadn't been easy or quick.

He had already asked, but Brona didn't mind answering again. Her smile was loving as she reached over, gently stroking his hair from his face.

"I don't think I'm gonna be moving about much for a few days," she admitted. "It was hard work."

"You don't have to. All you need to do is take care of yourself and the baby. I'll do everything else," he assured her, though they'd probably have plenty of help, especially from her side of the family.

"I'll have to get out of bed eventually," she pointed out in amusement. "What about you, though' You okay, sweetheart' I know I made a lot of noise last night."

"I'm okay. Too excited to sleep," he told her, looking a little tired, but not so tired that he couldn't wait a while to catch up on his sleep. "I was worried about you," he confessed. And worried about the baby, too, but so far, everything seemed to have worked out okay.

"Childbirth's noisy," she said, one shoulder rising and falling as she smiled apologetically. "But it was a pretty easy birth. He's a small baby - kinda glad he came early, really. If he was bigger, it would have been worse."

"He's perfect," Cody said, smiling again as he looked down at their son with awe and wonder. "Hard to believe he's ours, isn't it?" he asked, the little boy still gripping his father's finger in his tiny hand.

"Little bit," she admitted with a low laugh. "But he is. Our little Jesse, already the apple of his papa's eye."

Between them, it was Jesse's turn to stir, smacking his lips as he blinked his unfocused eyes open.

"Uh oh," Cody said, chuckling quietly. "Looks like he heard us talking about him. Think he's hungry?" he asked, unsure how to know when a baby was hungry, other than if he was crying.

"Maybe?" Brona watched the baby boy, enchanted by the way he was just gazing up at Cody, as though utterly enthralled by his papa's face. "He seems pretty content just to marvel at how great his pops is, though."

"Think he recognizes our voices?" Cody asked, uncertainly. He'd talked to his son almost right from the moment he'd known Brona was with child, sometimes eliciting a kick or some other kind of movement. Was it too hard to believe he might recognize and remember their voices from before he'd been born?

"I'm sure he does," she assured him, adjusting herself so she was more comfortable where she lay. "He's so good. Aedan was a screaming fiend every four hours on the dot when he arrived here."

Cody Mullen

Date: 2019-07-08 13:02 EST
"Maybe he was missing his mother," Cody said, frowning. He was glad the boy had been reunited with his parents at long last, but he understood why Nemone had sent him away from the valley. It had not been a safe place for boys, even those who were just children.

"Maybe. We're probably due some screamin', though." She flashed him a grin. "He don't have any other way to talk to us yet." She sniffed, frowning slightly, and bent down to sniff closer to the baby boy's rear end. "So it begins."

Cody chuckled again. "I'll do it. I've had practice," he said, grinning. He'd had a little time to practice on the other children in the family and he was eager to put that practice to the test. "What do you say, little man' Ready to see if Papa passes the test?" he asked, as he scooped the newborn into his arms.

Little Jesse gurgled a little as Cody picked him up, his backside still apparently warm enough that he wasn't going to complain just yet. Brona giggled as she watched her husband with their son, knowing she should get herself up and washed and dressed at the very least.

Though staying in bed all day was appealing, Cody knew their families were going to be there to visit in a few hours and they had to be at least halfway presentable. There was no need to get up yet though, with all the diapering supplies so close at hand. Cody simply laid the newborn on a towel on the bed and went about very carefully removing his layers so that he could swap the wet diaper with a clean one.

"See" Nothing to it!" he said, just barely managing to get a new diaper on the little boy before he soiled it again. "Oops!"

Brona giggled at the noises they were making together, easing herself up and out of bed to wash herself and at least change her clothes. It didn't take long, and once she felt more human, she lay back down with them on the bed. "How's it going there, fellas?"

By the time Brona was washed and dressed, so was little Jesse, but from the look on his face, he was far from content. In fact, he looked like he was going to break into a very displeased scream at any moment.

"I think he's hungry," Cody said, unsuccessfully trying to comfort the baby in his arms.

"Just as well breakfast just got settled in then, isn't it?" she countered, easing herself to sit up as she unbuttoned her shirt. "Oh, shhh, little man, it's right here. I gotta feed your papa too."

Cody wished he could help, but maybe he could help in other ways. He had, after all, changed the newborn's diaper and he capable of doing more than that.

"Why don't I make breakfast while you feed the little man?" he suggested, carefully handing the newborn over to his mama.

"You sure?" she asked, carefully taking the squirming boy into her arms to help him latch on before his grizzling turned into screams. "I don't mind, if you don't mind waiting a little bit."

"I know how to cook, Brona," Cody reminded her, an amused smirk on his face. "Promise I won't burn the eggs," he told her, leaning close to touch a kiss to her lips, even as she fed their son his first meal.

She laughed, brushing her lips affectionately to his as he kissed her. "I'll come down and join you when he's done," she promised tenderly. "If I stay up here all day, I'm going to scream."

"Well, we wouldn't want that," he said, chuckling at her remark and pausing to touch a tender kiss to the top of their son's head before straightening. "I'm just gonna wash up and then I'll make breakfast," he promised.

"All right, darlin'." Smiling, Brona settled back against the pillows, letting Jesse grip her finger as he suckled for the second time. She felt exhausted, but at least she knew that was a normal thing. They weren't on their own dealing with this.

Before long, she'd be able to smell bacon and eggs frying in the kitchen, as well as coffee brewing. If she was paying attention, she'd even hear him humming a song to himself as he fixed breakfast.

Curiosity and her own need to be up and about urged Brona to rise and make her way down the stairs with Jesse still at her breast, glad she'd witnessed enough women moving about their work in such a way as to know it was possible. "Somethin' smells good."

"Breakfast," Cody announced, though that much was obvious. "Is he happy now?" he asked, moving over to pull out a chair for her as she joined him in the kitchen.

She glanced down at the baby in her arms, smiling as she sat in the proffered chair. "He seems to be." Stifling a yawn, she gently Jesse to her shoulder to burp him, one hand buttoning her shirt once again. "You're in a good mood for someone who didn't sleep."

"And why shouldn't I be?" Cody countered, grinning. After all, he was happy. He had a wife and a son, a home, and even a job teaching in the village. He had a lot to be thankful for, so why shouldn't he be in a good mood" Yes, he was tired, but he'd sleep later.

"Oh, far be it from me to say you shouldn't be." Brona laughed cheerfully, rubbing her hand against Jesse's back as the newborn burped near her ear. "Oh, good boy, Jesse. Feel better now you had breakfast?"

Cody chuckled, as he poured his wife a cup of coffee, which was a rare treat, as it was in short supply. "I hear they sleep a lot," he remarked, envying that about his son. He fixed her coffee the way she liked it and set it on the table, before turning to fetch a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast.

"For the first few weeks, yeah," she told him. "But the sleeping times get shorter, and they start staying awake longer as they get bigger. We could probably get him sleeping through the night with only one feed within a month."

"That soon?" Cody asked, brows arching upwards as he set her plate on the table, along with a fork and knife. A month didn't sound very long, until one wasn't getting enough sleep. "I asked Sarah to cover for me at school for a while," he told her, needing to be home with his family, at least, until Brona was well enough to handle the baby on her own.

"That's wonderful," was Brona's quietly enthusiastic response. "Thank you, sweetie." Her smile was delighted, not just because she wouldn't be dealing with the baby alone for a week or so, but because she would be spending more time with her husband. "Ember's banned me from taking calls for a month, and after that, I'm only allowed to do injuries, not sickness, for six months after that."

Cody Mullen

Date: 2019-07-08 13:03 EST
"You deserve a break," Cody was quick to add, as he brought a plate over for himself and took a seat at the table. He looked from his plate to hers, a thoughtful frown on his face. "Why don't you let me take him, so you can eat?" he asked her.

Brona's expression softened, but she knew not to argue at this point. "Sure," she agreed, leaning over to pass Jesse to his father. She stole Cody's plate and quickly cut up the contents so he could eat with one hand, sliding it back to him before beginning to eat herself.

Cody settled the little one against his shoulder to support his head while he ate one-handed. It took a little practice, but thankfully, the newborn wasn't very mobile yet - more sleepy than anything. "Seems being born took a lot out of him," he remarked at the baby's sleepiness.

"It's gotta be a shock, comin' out of that nice warm hug into a loud place where you need a cuddle to be that warm again," Brona pointed out, virtually inhaling her meal. She hadn't eaten much at dinner last night, but her appetite had definitely returned in abundance.

"We'll keep him warm, Brona," Cody assured her, glancing a moment to the little bundle of warmth on his shoulder. He had no doubt they'd love him and care for him and make sure he was safe for as long as they lived, if possible.

"Damn right we will," she agreed heartily, taking a slow sip of her coffee with a happy little groan. "You gonna spoil us for the week then?"

"If I can stay awake long enough," he replied with a chuckle. He knew he'd have to sleep sometime, and it was likely it would catch up with him sooner, rather than later. It was a good thing they had family close by, in case they needed help.

"Yeah, you gotta remember to sleep, honey," she nodded. "We can take it in turns, no need for one of us to do everything." Admittedly, there was one job only she could do for the time being, but it didn't even occur to her in that moment.

It had occurred to him though, as evidence by his frown. "Brona, darlin', you're the only one who can feed him," he pointed out, hoping she wouldn't be too overwhelmed by that. Maybe he'd talk to Nate about how they'd managed to feed Ella.

"Huh." Brona frowned with him thoughtfully. "I didn't think of that. Maybe there's a way to split that up, too - we used these bottles and teats with Aedan. I bet they're still in the attic at the big house."

Cody wasn't a stupid man, but he didn't know much about babies, other than that they needed feeding and changing and slept a lot. All he knew, he'd learned from his brothers, and that hadn't been much. "I'd like to help, if I can," he told her. If there was a way possible.

"We'll work something out," she promised him. "We're in this together, you and me." And that was in spite of the many helping hands they were going to have offering time to look after Jesse.

"Well, I wasn't much help with the birth," Cody admitted with a rueful smile. He hadn't even been allowed in the room to hold her hand or offer moral support, but maybe that was a good thing or he might have gotten in the way.

"Next time, just you and Ember," she said, the decision already made. "Nem and Mahon can take Jesse when we do this again. I needed you there, but I couldn't say anything when they were talking over each other between my legs."

"I wanted to be there, but ..." He shrugged. No matter. How did the old saying go' All's well that ends well" Brona and Jesse were safe and healthy, and that was all that mattered. "I love you, you know," he told her, leaving his fork on his plate and reaching over to tangle his fingers with hers.

"I love you, too." She smiled, squeezing his hand in hers. "So much. I guess this kinda makes us even now, huh' You looking after me for a little bit."

He chuckled at her remark. "If you want to think of it that way," he said, brushing a kiss against her knuckles before letting go so that they could both finish their breakfast before it got cold. "I don't mind."

"Best thing that ever happened to me, sassing Eli from the other end of a shotgun," she commented around a mouthful of eggs. The people of Pax still had no idea that was how the Mullens had been brought into the fold, and they never would, either.

"He wouldn't have hurt you, you know," Cody assured her, though they'd been over this at least half a dozen times before. "His bark is worse than his bite."

"I know that now," she said laughingly. "He can be pretty scary when he wants to be. Him and Dale are a perfect match. She threatened me with a shotgun first time I met her, too."

"She did?" Cody asked, arching his brows at her, a forkful of eggs halfway to his mouth. Why was this the first time he was hearing about this, and why would Dale pull a shotgun on Brona"

"She's always been jumpy," Brona explained with another shrug. "I think she's running from something, but if it ever comes calling, we won't let it take her back."

"It's a good thing they're not living so far out anymore then," Cody said, though he hoped Brona was wrong. Whatever the case, he assumed Eli was aware of it.

"It's been years since she arrived her, and nothing's come up. Maybe whatever it is she's looking over her shoulder for gave up ages ago." That was a nice thought, though it was unlikely that anyone gave up on a productive member of their village or community easily these days.

"Maybe," Cody admitted, but he wasn't too sure. "Have you noticed how Eli's changed?" he asked, wondering if it was having a wife and child that had done it. It wasn't just that his brother seemed happier these days, but he seemed almost gentler, calmer, though Cody had no doubt his brother wouldn't hesitate to do whatever was necessary to protect those he loved.

"Is he really that different?" she asked, genuinely curious. "I only ever really saw his gruff side when he was worrying over you. Was he like that all the time?"

"Not all the time," Cody replied, frowning a little. "He was different before our parents were killed. After that, I think he felt he had to take their place. Eli took their death hard. All he wanted was to kill mutants. It was almost as if he was trying to kill as many mutants as he could to keep other families safe." He shrugged, as though he wasn't sure whether that was true or not.

Cody Mullen

Date: 2019-07-08 13:03 EST
"That's what it seemed like," she admitted thoughtfully. "It wasn't just revenge that was driving him, although that was a big part of it. Guess he just needed a stubborn little woman to make him settle down and find himself again, huh?"

"He's the oldest," Cody said with a thoughtful frown. His thoughts turned to his parents and to the mutants who'd killed them. Could they be saved, or were they well beyond redemption' Did it even matter" "Eli felt like the burden was on him, but it wasn't. He had Nate and me. We're family. We'll always be family."

"Just 'cos the family got bigger doesn't mean it's not still family," Brona said in a quiet voice. "You think the change is good for him, though' Was it really such a big change?"

"Yes and no. I mean, for a long time, it was like I'd lost my brother, and now I have him back, if that makes sense," he explained, or tried to. Though he was good at putting words together, it was hard trying to explain what had happened to him and his brothers in the years after their parents had died.

"I'm glad." She squeezed his hand again, releasing him to finish eating. "You know, you're allowed to be a little bit jealous of Dale sometimes, too. I still get a little jealous of Nemone - she's so much closer to Mahon than I'm ever going to be. But that doesn't mean he's not my brother still."

Cody chuckled, not because he found what she was saying funny, but because in a way, it was ironic. "Your brother may be married to Nemone, but he adores you in a way that's different from how he loves her. Why do you think it's taken so long for Mahon to make peace with Eli?"

"That doesn't make any sense to me, though," she pointed out with a smile, glad to hear his chuckle as they talked. "I mean, it's not Eli who married me and got me knocked up, is it?"

"No, but Eli and Mahon are both alpha males," Cody explained. "They can't both be in control. The thing they have to realize is that they'd make better allies than enemies."

"They're getting there." She giggled quietly. "Maybe they'll bond over both having a nephew they can make a claim on as blood kin, you never know."

Cody smirked. "Maybe we should have named him after them, but then, they'd probably get angry over which name comes first," he said, chuckling again. "You don't think Mahon will be mad we named him after my father?"

"If he is, he can take it up with me," she pointed out with a grin, knowing perfectly well that in her position as everyone's little sister in this family she could talk any of the men into a corner with sheer bloody-mindedness.

"He deserves to have his own name," Cody said, turning his head to look at their son, asleep on his shoulder, and gently rub the newborn's back. He was already loved and would be loved by so many, including uncles and aunts and cousins. "But I think Jesse fits him, for some reason."

"It does," she agreed. "I like it. Jesse Mullen - it's a strong name for hard times. He's gonna have the girls around here desperate to get him into a shotgun wedding, though, so you're gonna have to teach him when not to stick his ding-a-ling into the yahoo hole."

Cody's eyes widened for a moment and then he laughed. "I don't think we have to worry about that for a long time, Brona," he pointed out, as their son had only just been born. It would be years before they had to worry about the birds and the bees.

Popping the last of her bacon into her mouth, she grinned at her husband affectionately. "Not for at least ten years," she agreed, deliberately estimating low just to see how much more she could get Cody to laugh.

"A few more than that, I hope," he said, picking up his fork to finish off his eggs before they got cold. Who knew what might happen between now and then, but one thing was certain - Cody was going to do everything in his power to care for his family and keep them safe.

Wiping her hands clean, Brona reached out. "Here, let me take him so you can finish eating," she offered fondly. "We should get that cradle ready for him sooner rather than later."

"I'll take care of it after breakfast," he assured her, carefully handing off his little burden to her so that he could finish eating. "Have you noticed we're all having boys?" he asked as he chewed on a slice of toast. Except for Ella, anyway.

"Ember and Ethan had a girl," she reminded him. "But you're right. I guess the Mullen genes prefer boys over girls." She flashed him a cheeky smile, tucking Jesse into the cradle of her arm as he nestled into her grasp.

"Yes, but that's not what I mean," Cody said, gesturing with his fork, as he tried to find the right word to explain his thoughts. He was the thinker among the Mullen brothers - the one who did more reading than the others, the one who was the most learned. "I mean, maybe it's Nature's way of evening things out," he suggested, at least as far as genders were concerned.

"After so many boys didn't get to grow up in the valley, you mean." Her smile turned sad, remembering the sheer number of small bones that had been uncovered when the new inhabitants of the valley had looked for those boys to bury them properly.

"Yeah," Cody said, mirroring her frown. He didn't feel the need to explain further, as she seemed to understand what he had been saying. "That should have never happened. And now, we're in danger of the mutants outnumbering us. What then?"

"If me and Ember can get hold of a fresh corpse, we can do some experimenting," she said - this was a plan she'd been wanting to enact for a while now. "Find out if there's something we could spray around that'll hold them off, or subdue them."

"What we need to do is ....I don't know ..." Cody said, with a sigh and a shrug. He'd been over this multiple times in his head and could think of no good solution short of exterminating them. "If there was a place they could go where they could live in peace, away from us, but I don't think there is such a place."

"We don't know enough about them." Brona sighed. "I don't like the killing anymore than you do, honey, but right now, it's all we've got. If we want to know more, we're gonna have to work on finding it out."

"You're saying someone should go out, hunt one down, kill it, and bring it back for experimentation," he said, with a slow shake of his head and another sigh. "What about capturing a live one?"

Cody Mullen

Date: 2019-07-08 13:03 EST
"How do we control it' How do we learn anything about what makes them tick if we just have one in a hut somewhere?" she pointed out. "They attack us on sight, Cody. No one would be able to get close enough to learn anything."

"I suppose not," Cody admitted with a frown. There seemed to be no humane way of dealing with the situation, as far as he could tell.

"Things are better now than they have been for a long time," she reminded him gently. "The fence will be done by winter, we won't need to worry about them making raids on us in the dark of the cold."

"Better, but we still have to do something about their numbers. I'll talk to Mahon. Maybe he'll have an idea," Cody suggested. He didn't like the idea of hunting them, but if anyone knew how to do that it was the Mullen brothers.

"But right now, our energy goes into this little man right here," Brona said, gently jostling their newborn son in her arms as he smacked his lips, rubbing at his eye with one little fist. "He needs us to be all about him for a while, at least."

"I know," Cody said, smiling softly as he looked to the newborn in his wife's arms. "He is beautiful, isn't he?" he said, still in awe and wonder at the miracle of birth. He didn't care if the word usually referred to a female; his son was beautiful to his eyes and that was the end of it.

"Look who his papa is," she said happily. "Of course he's beautiful. And a little angel, too, if this is anything to go by." She raised her eyes to Cody, brimming with tender affection for the little family they had made together.

"Let's hope," Cody said, mirroring her smile. There was nothing but love and affection for his little family, and it showed in everything he did. Even if there were challenging moments ahead - and Cody didn't doubt there would be at some time or another - he would never stop loving them, never stop caring for them.

In a way, it was the mutants that had brought them together, brought the Mullens into the fold that was Pax. No matter the circumstances, Brona would never stop being thankful for one dark night on the road, and a pair of worried shotguns changing her path.