"You know, I love your siblings, Em, but when they bring friends over, they are exhausting."

On the changing mat in front of Dom, six-month-old Emma blew a raspberry up at her father and yawned hugely. It had been a long day, and this was the last job of the night before the adults got to relax together. Daisy and Donovan were in bed, and Emma was very nearly there herself.

Lifting her up onto his hip, Dom turned back to the room. "Okay, say goodnight to your mama, little fidget."

"Goodnight, little fidget!" Elle replied back, wriggling her fingers at their youngest before moving over to gently smooch her cheek. "Love you, Em-Em. Sweet dreams, my darling," she whispered, brushing another kiss against her hair. Bedtime was always a bittersweet time, as parents were torn between needing a little time for themselves and missing the little ones while they were asleep.

Emma beamed, making kissing noises as Elle kissed her hair. She was a good little girl, unlike her brother had been at this age. Dom grinned as the little head fell heavily on his shoulder. "Aaaand she's out for the count," he chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Won't be long."

"I'll put the kettle on," Elle said, without asking whether or not he wanted any tea.

Once the kids were in bed, it was time for them to relax together without the risk of any children interrupting. At least, that was the plan. Of course, every now and then, someone awoke with a bad dream or something, but that was the exception, rather than the rule. She touched a kiss to his cheek, too, just for good measure, before slipping out of the room. Emma was as good as sleep, and Elle didn't mind him doing the honors tonight.

Dom smiled, one large hand resting on Emma's back as he bore her away to her own bedroom. It was the matter of just a few moments to settle the baby down and tuck her in, turning on the nightlight and the baby monitor before slipping out of the little room with a last whispered "Good night". It wasn't long before he was in the kitchen, winding his arms around his wife from behind.

"Three over-excited small girls shouldn't be so tiring," he muttered.

"Darling, your son is far more tiring than all three of the girls put together," Elle reminded him, leaning into his embrace as she poured hot water into a small ceramic pot to let the tea steep. She was English, after all, and refused to drink tea that came from a little bag.

He laughed, stroking his stubbly cheek against her smooth one. "I love how he's my son whenever he's been asking questions you can't answer," he said cheerfully, pressing a kiss to her temple. "Took two to make him."

"Yes, and it's a well-known fact that the male half determines the child's gender, so there, Mr. Smarty Pants," she replied, grinning cheekily as she turned to face him. She lifted a hand to brush a stray strand from his face, unable to stop herself from teasing him further. "Do I see a little gray there, Mr. Granger?"

"Would you be horrified if you did?" he asked, not that bothered about gray hairs. Humphrey had been white-haired for years, and he was doing just fine. Hell, he even had a girlfriend. "Think I can pull off distinguished silver fox professor?"

"So long as your students don't start following you home," she said, though she trusted him implicitly. If he'd been having an affair, she'd have caught wind of it by now. "I love my silver fox," she said, touching a kiss to his lips. "But I'm not ready to be a silver vixen yet."

Dom snorted with laughter. "Good grief, if any of them tried, I think I'd keel over in shock," he assured her. And yes, some of his students might fancy him, but he was very married and made no secret of it. "You will always be beautiful to me, Belle."

"You have always underestimated yourself, Dom," she told him, chiding him gently. "But if any of your students ever follow you home, I can't be blamed for my actions," she warned him with the sweetest of smiles. "Will I still be beautiful to you when I'm old and fat and gray and wrinkled?" she asked, as she turned to check on the tea, which had been steeping long enough in her estimation.

"You will never be old or fat or gray or wrinkled in my eyes, so shush," he told her, hugging her close even as she turned back to the tea. "How do you feel about being a mother of four, though?"

"Four?" Elle echoed, as she poured the tea into tea cups - not mugs, because that was just wrong in her eyes. It was a good thing he couldn't see her face because her expression would have given away the fact that she knew exactly what he was talking about, even if she pretended not to. "I think perhaps you should count again," she teased him further. It had always been way too much fun getting him wound up.

"Ah." But Dom wasn't the sort to push a point if he didn't think the time was right, and Elle's response told him the time was not right. "Three it is, then." He kissed her cheek, reaching to tuck saucers under the cups.

Elle frowned. He really did give up too easily sometimes. "Are we talking about Maisie?" she queried, not letting it go quite so easily as that. She and Vicki had spoken, and she knew the little girl was looking for her forever home.

"Tentatively, yes," he admitted, tilting his head toward her. "There was a lot of joy in Daisy and Bea to have Maisie with them, and Daisy had never met her before today."

"Maisie is a little older than Daisy," she remarked as she dropped a single cube of sugar into each cup and then added a splash of milk, before stirring the mixture together. "Do you think that would be a problem?" she asked, though she had her own opinion on that.

"It's only a year," Dom mused thoughtfully. "Obviously this isn't something we would move ahead with if Daisy said no, but ....it is rather appealing in its way. What do you think?"

Not even a year, probably. Elle wasn't sure what Daisy would think about having an older sister, even if it was only by a few months, when she had always been the eldest. Elle set a few biscuits on a plate, before putting it all on a tray and turning in the direction of the table. This was something they needed to discuss before a decision was made that stood to change all their lives, and that required tea.

"The question is would we be doing this for the right reasons, and how would our own children react to it?" she asked, needing to look at all angles and possible consequences. While it was a valiant idea to give the little girl a home, it wouldn't work if their own children resented the idea.

"You're right," Dom agreed, pulling out a chair for her before taking a seat at her side. "The bottom line is that we can't do anything without talking to the children first. Emma's too small to have an opinion, but Daisy and Donnie deserve to have some input."

Daisy smiled at the mental image of her grandmother chasing the bad guys away with nothing more than a large wooden spoon. "But Maisie doesn't live at Maple Grove, Mummy," she reminded her mother. Thankfully, Bea did, but she couldn't say the same for Maisie. But then, why would the bad men want to hurt Maisie"

Dom's eyes flickered toward Elle, a very faint suggestion of a smile quirking at the corner of his mouth. He had a feeling he knew where this was going, but he wanted to follow it through. "I'm sure we could arrange for her to be guarded, sweetling," he suggested innocently.

Elle exchanged glances with Dom. She noticed the smile on his face and could practically read his mind, but they needed this to come from Daisy and for all the right reasons, not just because she'd had a bad dream. "Darling, it was just a bad dream. There's no reason to think Maisie is in any danger. We can't bring Maisie to live at Maple Grove, just because you had a bad dream about her."

Daisy frowned thoughtfully and wiped the tears from her face, looking from one parent to the other. Dom, it seemed, was going to be easy to convince, but she wasn't so sure about her mother. "It's not just about that, Mummy," the little girl insisted. "Bea and Maisie are best friends. They should be together. It isn't fair that Bea was adopted and Maisie wasn't."

"That isn't a good enough reason to bring Maisie to the Grove, lovely," Dom said in his gentle way. "All on her own, without family, just so she's close to her friends" It sounds lonely, to me."

"But Daddy, we could give her a family," Daisy argued. She didn't quite understand why Uncle Jon and Aunt Vicki had chosen Bea over Maisie or why they hadn't adopted them both, but she knew it had something to do with the fact that they had four children of their own already. "If she was my sister, she'd be Bea's cousin, and that's lots better than friends."

"We could give her a family, yes," Dom agreed quietly. "Is that something you want, Daisy, or do you just feel guilty because of something that is out of your control?"

"I don't feel guilty, Daddy. I feel sad. I like Maisie. She should have a nice family, too. Why can't she live with us" I know she'd be happy here. And Donnie likes her, too! Please, Daddy?" Daisy asked, with a look on her face that could melt the iciest of hearts.

Beside her, Elle only watched silently, waiting to see what Dom would say.

Dom held Daisy's hopeful expression, glad he'd learned not to give in at the slightest flicker of those big eyes by now. "You know she would be your big sister?" he pointed out. "She would share your room, at least for a while. You'd be with each other almost every hour of every day."

Daisy nodded enthusiastically, as if this wasn't a consequence which she'd find unpleasant. "I wouldn't be alone anymore, and neither would she," she pointed out. "I don't mind sharing, Daddy. And I love Donnie, but he's a boy, and Em is too little to play with. Anyway, Maisie is almost my age. I don't mind if she's a little bit older."

Elle breathed a sigh, a thoughtful frown on her face. Her heart went out to the orphaned girl, but she didn't want them to be making a mistake, which would leave Maisie even lonelier than she was now. "Why don't we talk to Maisie and see if she'd like to spend a little time here" Then we can see if she likes it here, and if you like having her here?"

"I think that sounds like a very good idea," Dom agreed with Elle, keeping a lid on his own private delight at how eager Daisy was. It was a little concerning to hear her mention that she was lonely - something they had hoped would be mitigated by having Bea on the Grove - but the fact that she could say it to them was heartening, all the same.

She wasn't lonely exactly, but the thought of sharing her room and her family with another girl nearly the same age was a tempting one. Still, Daisy frowned, a child's worries nagging at her. "But what if she hears me wake up with nightmares?" she asked, not wanting to scare her new friend away.

"What if you hear her wake up with nightmares?" Dom countered, turning it around on her. He had faith that Daisy would not let a friend or sister suffer alone, and that Maisie was likely very much the same.

Daisy blinked, surprised at the unexpected question. "If Maisie has nightmares?" she echoed, as if trying to fathom the thought of that for a moment. "I-I would give her a hug and wipe away her tears and tell her she's safe here with us at Maple Grove," she replied, looking to her mother, as if to silently ask if that was the right response.

"Don't you think she'd do the same for you, darling?" Elle asked her daughter.

Dom smiled to himself, glad to hear Elle rejoining the conversation. "Sisters look after one another," he murmured to Daisy. "Ask Auntie Ash and Aunt Izzy sometime - they might drive each other nuts, but they'd fight a giant snake to keep each other safe."

"A giant snake!" Daisy echoed, eyes wide, not quite sure if he was talking about a real or figurative snake. "But if there was a giant snake, you would fight it for us, wouldn't you, Daddy' Just like you did with the bad men."

Elle smiled, allowing Dom to answer that question, though she already knew the answer. There was nothing he wouldn't do for them.

"I would do anything for my family," he promised her. "I would fight the scariest monster you can think of, just to keep you safe. All of you."

"Would you fight a six-headed fire-breathing dragon?" Daisy asked, throwing her arms around his neck, her nightmare and worries forgotten in the safe company of her parents.

"Well, I might need some help, but yes," he chuckled, tucking her a little closer on his lap with a grin. "We're lucky to have lots of people in our family who can fight really well, too."

"And we have a real live dragon here at Maple Grove that could help fight the fire dragon!" she said, with a small bounce on her father's lap.

Elle chuckled. "And with that, I think it's time someone went back to bed," she suggested.

"Yes, nighttime is for sleeping in," Dom agreed with a nod. He hesitated for a moment, and felt himself give in with a smile. "Want a lift, sweetling?"

"Would you tuck me in again, Daddy?" Daisy asked, clearly asking her father and not her mother to do it, though she didn't mind if her mother came along. Her arms remained where they were snug around Dom's neck, unwilling to let go.

"Maybe I just need a hug," she told him. If that was the case, she was certainly in the right place, but they both knew there was more to it than that. "Dom ..." she started a little reluctantly. "Did you ever worry whether or not you'd be a good father for Daisy?"

He smiled against her hair, wrapping his arms a little more completely about her. "You know I did, sweetheart," he reminded her. "I still do, sometimes. But she taught me so much about being a father to her, and she's still teaching me. Every day I learn something more about being her father. Just as every day I learn something more about being your husband. And you have more than enough love to give another child," he added, guessing where her concern lay. "Your heart isn't finite, Belle. It'll just keep growing the more people you have to love."

"Do you really think so?" she asked, lifting her head from his shoulder to meet his gaze, trusting him to tell her the truth. What was really worrying her wasn't so much whether the children would get along, but whether she'd have enough love in her heart for a child that wasn't her own - especially for a child like Maisie who had never known a mother's love.

"Elle, you and Vicki are more alike than even you think," he pointed out. "What was her one big worry going into fostering and adopting Beatrix?"

"Only one?" Elle asked, knowing Vicki had more than a few worries when it came to adopting Bea. "I'm worried I won't be the mother she needs me to be. That I won't love her as much as I love Daisy and Donnie and Emma. She deserves a family who loves her like one of their own, Dom. What if we can't do that?"

"What makes you think we can't?" he countered, rocking her gently. "I know you can. You just need to have a little faith in yourself, sweetheart. Daisy believes you can do it, too."

"Daisy thinks I'm Supermom," Elle replied with a roll of her eyes, as she leaned back into Dom's embrace again. "I just don't want to hurt her, Dom. If we're going to do this, we need to be sure we're doing the right thing, not just for her, but for us, too." Hence, the test period, she supposed.

"That's why no one adopts right off the bat," he reminded her in a gentle tone. "Vicki and Jon took Bea on outings, and had her for dinner and lunch and to sleep overnight before they ever broached the idea of fostering her. It seems to me that's a good model to emulate."

"What if someone else adopts her first?" Elle asked. She wasn't sure how she felt about the girl yet, but she knew Daisy, not to mention Bea, would be heartbroken if someone else adopted Maisie and took her far away.

"I can't answer that, love," Dom pointed out. "I don't work at the orphanage, I don't know if anyone is interested in adopting Maisie. That's a question for the carers there, surely."

"If we're serious about this, we need to find out," she said, pulling away from him again so that she could look up into his face and meet his gaze. "I don't want the girls getting their hopes up for nothing. I'll talk to Vicki tomorrow and find out what?s involved, and we can go from there."

And that was that. Decision made.

"That sounds like a good plan to have in place," Dom agreed, smiling down at her. "No more worrying, okay' It's a waste of time and energy you could apply better somewhere else."

"Oh' And just how do you think I could apply it better?" she asked, her hands creeping up inside the back of his shirt, her mouth quirking into a mischievous smile. She wasn't sure if he was dropping a hint or not, but she wasn't about to let it go without a challenge.

He laughed low in his chest as he felt her hands creep beneath the fabric. "Mmm, that is a conundrum, certainly," he mused, the tip of his nose circling hers. "Something that is not a waste of your time, I do believe."

"Sleep isn't a waste of time," she pointed out, though she wasn't really sleepy just yet. Her smile widened into a teasing grin, eyes bright with mischief, as she gently raked his back with her nails, just enough to entice, not to scratch.

His eyes narrowed playfully as he felt the scrape of her nails on his skin. His knees bent, hands sliding down to her thighs, and he straightened again, lifting her up to wrap her legs about his waist. "Try not to wake Donnie up this time," he growled teasingly against her neck.

"I'll try," she whispered back, her arms going around his neck, her legs locking at his back. She leaned in to distract him with a kiss, the kiss ending in a tug of lower lip with her teeth.

He chuckled into her kiss, easily carrying her from the kitchen to the stairs, turning out lights as they went. By now, Dom would walk the whole house blindfolded, so familiar was this particular walk to bed for him.

She did her best to distract him while he went about the nightly ritual of checking doors and turning out lights. Maybe her worries wouldn't go away that easily, but at least, she could distract herself from them for a while, and she could think of no better distraction than that of her husband.

At the very least, he could make sure she slept very well tonight. And so he did.