"Mummy! Your tummy's moving!"

Piper glanced down at her bump, all of thirty-one weeks and counting, smirking a little at the utter fascination on Lyneth's face as the little girl stared at the movement going on under her mother's skin.

Lyneth looked all of her almost six years now, not having bothered to age herself up recently, and seemed to have calmed down a tad. Just a tad - she was ridiculously excited about being a big sister for the second time. With Piper lying on her side in the garden, the bump was on display for anyone to see, Loki lying protectively close by as always. That didn't stop Lyneth from opening her lungs.

"Daddy! Daddy, come see, the baby's stretching!"

It certainly wasn't the first time the little family had witnessed a baby moving inside Piper's belly, as could be seen from the little boy who was clinging to Desmond's hand as he walked him around the garden to say hello to each and every one of Lyneth's fairy friends. The little family had come a long way from the days when Desmond had first met Piper and Lyneth on that fated Christmas Eve nearly five years ago.

"Lynnie, the baby stretches all the time!" he called over to her, with a bit of a chuckle.

"But I can see hands!" Judging by the sheer awe in Lyneth's voice, this was right up there with watching the fire-eater at the last fair they had visited together.

Piper laughed softly, reaching over to smooth her daughter's curls. "Don't you remember Dylan doing this in my tummy?" she asked with a smile, trying not to laugh again as Lyneth shook her head vehemently.

"Come along, Dyl. Your sister wants us to see what the baby is up to," he told the toddler, scooping him up into his arms and turning to join Piper and Lyneth, where they were relaxing on a blanket Desmond had spread out on the grass. Lyneth had always been fond of picnics, indoors or out, and today was no exception.

"Look, Dyl, look ..." As Des deposited his son onto the blanket, Lyneth pushed Piper's shirt high beneath her breasts to poke at her mother's pregnant bump for her little brother's amusement.

Rolling her eyes, Piper glanced up at Des. "When did I become as enthralling as a board game?"

"More like a stuffed animal, I think," Desmond pointed out as he dropped down to join them on the blanket. "Not too high, Lyneth. We don't want to give everyone a free show!" he warned, laughing again. Not that there was anyone there to bear witness but them and Lyneth's fairy friends anyway.

"We've all seen Mummy's boobies," Lyneth dismissed his concern easily, her tone so off-hand that Piper really did laugh. That laughter seemed to translate to the baby in her womb, and for a moment, it was easy to see not just hands, but a foot as well, pressing from inside in reaction to the giggles.

He might have warned her that the neighbors hadn't, but most of the neighbors were family now that they were living at Maple Grove. "Well, look at that!" Desmond declared with a grin. "Three out of four appendages," he said, touching a finger to each in turn.

"Oh, joy," Piper drawled in amusement. "I'm giving birth to a tripod." This ease with pregnancy was a far cry from the stresses of being pregnant with Lyneth and Dylan. This time around, there was no threat hanging over their heads, allowing them all to genuinely enjoy some of the stranger parts of building a baby from scratch together.

Lynnie giggled, watching as Dylan planted his face on Piper's bump to smooch his baby sister loudly.

"Nothing like getting the raspberries on a bare belly to know you're loved," Desmond remarked with a chuckle at Dylan's antics. The boy was not quite as precocious as his sister had been, but then he was completely mortal.

"He's kissing the baby, Daddy," Lyneth pointed out in a long-suffering tone. "Kissing Mummy goes like this." Piper let out a muffled yelp as their precocious six-year-old grabbed her mother's face and planted a wet kiss directly on her lips. "Like you do when you think we can't see," Lynnie added, wiping her mouth as she sat back.

Desmond laughed even harder. "That is not how I kiss your mother!" he pointed out, eyes dancing with amusement, though he knew better than to argue with her. "This is how I kiss your mother," he told her, leaning over to press a soft but chaste kiss to Piper's lips. "And this is how I kiss you," he teased, making a grab for the little fae girl.

"Nice try," Piper murmured to him, smiling into the kiss he gave her. She knew exactly what was coming next, pushing herself to sit up and be safely out of range as Lyneth's feet flailed.

The little girl's raucous giggles filled the garden as Des grabbed for her, caught before she even started to get away. In Piper's lap, Dylan laughed at them, still hugging the bump even as he watched his big sister soundly trounced by his Daddy.

Of course, Desmond didn't just give Lyneth a wet sloppy kiss on the cheek but tickled her, too. Though she was no longer the toddler she was when he'd first met her, she was just as playful, and if anything, they had only grown closer as she'd gotten older.

"Daddy!"

Lynnie's shriek was definitely louder than it needed to be, but it had the desired effect - Knip, her lazy Kneazle, raised his head from where he was dozing in the flowers and rose onto his feet, delicately padding toward the little family. As Dylan cackled, knowing exactly what to expect from the feline, Knip considered Des' playful attack on Lyneth for a long moment, chose his moment, and stuck his rasping tongue directly into Des' ear.

Startled, Des echoed Lyneth's shriek as soon as he felt that warm, rough tongue touch his ear and let go of Lyneth, allowing her to escape. "That is not fair, Knip!" he chided the cat - Kneazle - whatever it was. There was very little about this little family that was mundane and normal.

The Kneazle just meowed at him, and settled down to wash himself, pleased with his own intervention. Lyneth sprawled on the blanket, rolling onto her back to giggle wickedly over at her father. "Shouldn't tickle when I'm not expecting it, I got wicked powers."

"Uh huh," Desmond replied, knowing all about her wicked powers. "At least, you didn't pee your pants this time," he teased back with a grin. "Why don't you finish taking your brother around to say hello to the fairies? I think we missed a few." There had been a time when Desmond hadn't believed in fairies or anything of the magical variety, but that was long before he'd met Piper and Lyneth.

"You don't think she'll go off on her own like Tiernan, do you?" Desmond asked. They didn't see a lot of Lyneth's elder fae brother, but he seemed to be a little more of a wild thing than his younger sister.

"She's more human than he is," she said softly. "He seems happier to be a wolf with Faolan than to be a human, and who can blame him, really' The Fae stole his human family, and stole most of his lifetime with it. We can't ever replace what was taken from him."

"I suppose," Des reluctantly agreed. Tiernan had risked his own life to help rid them of the threat from Lyneth's Fae father, and while Desmond was grateful to him for that, it hadn't really brought Tiernan out of his protective shell, except where Lyneth was concerned. "He's still family," Desmond insisted. That was the least they could do to thank him.

"Of course he is," Piper agreed. "I just don't know what else we can do to convince him of that. He seems happier in the wilds than he is when he's with us, but he stays close because of Lynnie."

"So long as he's happy, there's nothing we can do, but remind him he and Faolan are as welcome here as family," Des reasoned. "At least, he has Faolan," he added. Otherwise, Lyneth's brother would be truly alone.

Piper smiled faintly. "True. And wolves, it seems, really do mate for life." She wasn't entirely sure what Tiernan's relationship with Faolan really was, but she certainly wasn't going to come right out and ask about it. They were jumpy enough as it was.

It seemed clear to Desmond that Tiernan and Faolan were mates, though as yet, they didn't seem to have had any children - or at least, none that Desmond or Piper knew of, and if Lyneth knew differently, she hadn't mentioned it. "He's protective of Lyneth, anyway, and that's good enough for me."

"It definitely is good," she agreed with a nod. "We should see if we can entice them to be around when the baby's born. Lynnie and Dyl might be a bit grubbier than we're used to, but they won't be neglected."

"I'll call them on the phone and ask them," Desmond said, obviously teasing, as neither Tiernan nor Faolan had a phone or any other modern conveniences either. As far as Desmond knew, they lived likes wolves in the wild, except for the rare times when they visited.

She snorted with laughter, one hand rising to slap him gently for his tease. "It's better than leaving out a saucer of milk," she admitted with a low chuckle. "I still haven't recovered from Lynnie's diatribe when I suggested we do that for the fairies."

"Or a hunk of meat," Desmond added with a smirk. "Oh' What did she say?" he asked, curiously, not having gotten the whole story on that.

Piper groaned, rolling her eyes. "Apparently I was being appallingly racist and unkind to her fairy friends, because obviously most fairies can't digest dairy, and leaving milk out for them is the same as leaving rat poison out for them," she told him in amusement. "Your daughter accused me of being a mass murderer before she calmed down."

"Um, okay ....What is it fairies like to drink, then?" Desmond asked, about as lost as Piper had been. "Kool-Aid?" he guessed at random, since Kool-Aid was mostly just sugar and water.

"According to Lyneth, they like dew-drops and insect eggs," his wife told him in a slightly disgusted tone. "When I told her there was no way I was going to dig up an ant's nest just to leave out food for the fairies, she got in a huff with me."

"Okay, well ....I guess they're on their own, then," Des said with a shrug and a chuckle. He turned his head to look over at their children as they played in the garden. "She's a bit of a puzzle, isn't she?" he remarked aloud. Even now, after nearly five years, she was still able to surprise him.

Piper followed his gaze, leaning comfortably against him. She knew exactly what he meant; she'd carried Lyneth in her womb, been closer to the little girl than anyone else, and yet she still knew so little about what she actually was. "I don't think we'll ever understand her," she admitted ruefully. "But perhaps we're not supposed to. Perhaps we're just supposed to love her."

"Do you think she knows how much we love her?" he asked, wondering if any child ever really grasped how much their mother or father loved them until they were older. Lyneth, though, was a bit of a conundrum - though she was young and preferred the guise of a child, both Desmond and Piper knew she, in truth, wiser and more mature than she seemed.

"She must do, on some level," Piper murmured softly. "She wouldn't be here with us, if she didn't know it." Because, despite Lyneth's powers and slightly inhuman nature, it had been love, in the end, that had saved her family from being destroyed by the Hunter Fae.

"She's good with Dylan," he observed further, proof that despite their worries, she was fond of her little brother and was a good role model for him, as she would hopefully be for her little sister, as well.

Piper laughed. "She spent long enough trying to convince us to have him," she pointed out with a long giggle. One hand stroked against her proud belly gently. "I hope she's as pleased to have a little sister."

"I'm more worried about Dyl's reaction to her than Lyneth's, to be honest," Desmond said, turning back to her with a smile as he covered her hand with his own.

She met his eyes with a tender smile, leaning close to brush her lips to his. "With all the love he lavishes on the bump every day, he might actually miss it more than he likes the baby that comes out of it," she warned impishly.

He returned her kiss, chuckling a little at her observation. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see," he said, touching another kiss to her lips, warm and affectionate. "No regrets, Pip?" he asked, already knowing the answer to that question.

"Were you expecting me to say yes?" she drawled with sarcastic amusement, dropping another kiss to his lips. "It is time to go inside, though. The tiniest terror needs a bath tonight, and I have my mini-editor clamoring for a new read through of my take on Red Riding Hood."

"How about I take care of the tiny terror, so you can focus on the mini-editor?" he volunteered, understanding that Dylan was the terror and Lyneth the editor.

"That sounds like a very good plan," she agreed. "And I have watermelon in the fridge, so that's how the day is ending for those two." She chuckled; in winter, the day ended on cocoa. In summer, they had to look for alternatives.

"And what about us?" he asked, stroking his fingers against her belly again. He was content just to enjoy the quiet of the evening, knowing their children were safely tucked in bed and dreaming pleasant dreams. Life didn't get much better than this, as far as Des was concerned.

"Hmm ..." She tilted her head back, looking up at the dusky twilight sky. "I'll let you rub my back if you ask me really nicely?"

He chuckled, more at the way she'd made her request than at the request itself. "It would be my privilege," he told her, with a twinkle in his eyes. He was thinking about sitting on the porch swing and watching the stars come out, but he thought he could work a backrub into that plan.

"Is that any way to say goodnight to your father?" Desmond asked, not moving a muscle, mostly because she was being rude. It wasn't his fault he'd fallen asleep in her bed - he was tired, too!

Lyneth looked to Piper to appeal, but all she got was a pointed look. "Manners, Lynnie," she reminded her daughter. "You will never make any friends, or ever get your own way, by being rude."

Lyneth pouted, feeling the gentle reprimand to her heart, and lowered her hands to the blanket. "M'sorry, Daddy," she said quietly. "You can sleep on my bed if you want. I can sleep on the floor."

"Don't be silly! All I want is a goodnight kiss," Desmond told her, not wanting to hurt her feelings, but not wanting her to be rude either. Despite the fact that Lyneth had crawled into their bed countless times, Desmond had no intention of spending the night in her bed.

The little girl nodded, twisting to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss his cheek. "Love you, Daddy," she whispered. "G'night." It was a much better goodnight than either of her parents had gotten out of her for a good couple of weeks, proof that sometimes she needed to be pulled up short.

"Love you, too, munchkin," Des replied, returning her hug and kiss with one of his own. "Sleep well." There wasn't much more to say, it seemed, and he found himself almost wishing for the days when she'd want him to linger.

But bedtime was bedtime, and lingering wasn't what it was for. As Piper slipped out to kiss Dylan goodnight as he slept, Lyneth snuggled down under her blankets, wrapping her arms around her battered cuddly rabbit as she laid her head on the pillow.

Des hesitated a moment to tuck Lyneth in, though it seemed she was perfectly capable of doing it herself these days. He wasn't particularly eager for her to grow up, hoping she'd stay little for a little while longer. "Good-night, Lynnie," he told her quietly before heading for the door.

She hummed a response, already drifting off to sleep, but the fairies who inhabited her plants piped up their own good nights in answer to him. One thing they could always be certain of ....Lyneth would never be alone.

He closed the door quietly behind him before going to find Piper, wherever she was. There was something about the way Lyneth pushed him away that was troubling him, but he supposed it was all part of the process of growing up.

He found his wife at the top of the stairs, having just come from Dylan's room. She knew the look on his face, offering him a a hand as she headed back down to the kitchen. "She's growing up, Des," she reminded him gently. "In a way, she's already grown up."

"She's never pushed me away before," he pointed out, following her down the stairs with a frown on his face that was a little too much like Lyneth's pout, even if they weren't related by blood.

Piper was silent in response. The truth was that she had been pushed away plenty of times by a tired Lyneth who just wanted to go to sleep in peace, but it had never occurred to her to see anything in it before now. An old, almost forgotten feeling welled up, tightening her throat. "It isn't personal," she managed quietly in answer, setting her manuscript down on the table before ducking into the kitchen.

Des furrowed his brows. Just a short time ago, they'd been laughing and having fun, and now it seemed, that good mood had shifted, and he wondered why. Was it because of him or something else? Of course, it wasn't personal, because they all loved each other, right' They were just tired.

After a moment, he followed Piper into the kitchen, feeling guilty for having upset two of the people he loved most in the world. "I'm sorry, Pip. I didn't mean to upset you."

She offered him a weary smile. "I'm not upset, exactly, and it's not your fault," she assured him, curling her fingers into his. "I still have moments when I feel unnecessary in her life. She's been pushing me away when she's tired for weeks."

"She's growing up too fast," he replied, though like Piper had said, in a way, Lyneth was already grown. She still seemed to enjoy being a child, but something seemed to have changed. Was it only that she was getting older, or did it have something to do with Dylan and the new baby' "You're always gonna be her mother, Piper," he reminded her. He wasn't sure the same could be said for his place as Lyneth's father, but he hoped so.

"And you will always be her father," she countered, turning to curl her hand to his cheek, blue eyes meeting his earnestly. "Always. She adores you, Des. She's just growing up. Little by little, she's pulling away from us, but that doesn't mean she's going to abandon us. I never abandoned my parents; you never left your mother in the dust. She'll always need us, in some way."

"I guess," he replied, with a small frown. Of course, she was right - she was always right when it came to Lyneth - but sometimes he wished their daughter could stay little forever. He supposed he'd feel the same way about their other children, too, someday. He touched a kiss to her hand, as much for her as for him. "So, how does the story end?" he asked, changing the subject back to Red Riding Hood.

The change in subject made her laugh softly, shaking her head as she smiled. "Well, the wood-cutter cuts off the wolf's head and cuts Red and her grandmother from the wolf's belly, and they all live happily ever after," she told him in amusement. "Only according to your daughter, Red should marry the woodcutter, so I have to make her older. What do you think?"

"I think it's gruesome," Desmond replied honestly, but it was only a story. "Why are fairy tales always so dramatic?" he asked, though he understood they were often meant to tell a lesson. Most of them did have a happy ending, though. He was glad of that. "I guess it depends on how you want the story to end," he said, which was probably no help at all.

"Apparently they weren't written for children," Piper shrugged, though this side of things fascinated her. "They were the stories that adults told each other around the fire. It was only when the Victorians came along that they got prettied up. Did you know that Rapunzel actually only woke up after giving birth to twins?"

"Woke up" Are you talking about Rapunzel or Sleeping Beauty?" he asked, further confused. He'd never paid too much attention to fairytales as a boy, more interested in things like baseball. Touching a kiss to her cheek, he asked, "You want a cup of tea?"

"Oh, Sleeping Beauty," she corrected, shaking her head. "I've read so many of those things over the last few months, it's a wonder I can keep any of them separate." She chuckled, smiling as he kissed her cheek. "Tea would be lovely, thank you."

"Okay, so if these stories weren't originally meant for children, maybe you need to change them a little," he said, though he didn't want to criticize her work too much or make her feel like she needed to change her story too much.

"That's the thing ....if I'm going to aim them at children, then I definitely need to use your Earth's Victorian versions," Piper agreed, easing down into a seat at the table with a low groan. Carrying another human being around got distinctly uncomfortable after the 28 week mark. "If I aim them at adults, I don't see the need to sanitize them."

He couldn't help but laugh at her description of their unborn daughter's conception, as well as the disclaimer that followed it. "You said it; I didn't," he said, regarding the sister-in-law that was Victoria Granger. She seemed to be rubbing off on Piper a little, but he didn't think that was a bad thing necessarily. "You and Vicki and Elle are like the Three Musketeers, only English."

"The best Three Musketeers were English, love," she pointed out, holding to a firm belief that Richard Chamberlain, Frank Finlay, and Oliver Reed could never be matched.

"Not in the book, they weren't!" he argued, with a grin, though he knew there was no point in arguing with her. "Are you gonna drink your tea, or let it get cold?" he asked, though he hadn't yet unwound his arms from around her.

"Well, tea is one of the little refinements," his wife said thoughtfully, channeling her mother briefly before her father's grin spread over her face. "But I am rather enjoying this cuddle, too."

"Do you want to skip the tea and go straight to bed?" he asked, where more cuddling would, no doubt, ensue, leaving the decision completely up to her.

"It seems a shame after you went through the trouble of making it, but, um ....yes." Piper offered him an apologetic smile, leaning in to brush a kiss against his cheek. "I have tea anytime. You are sometimes at work when I want man-cuddles."

"I am only too happy to let you use me," he told her, with another grin as she kissed his cheek. "Just let me rinse out the cups and I'll be right up," he told her, not wanting to leave the tea sitting unattended all night on the table.

"I love my husband." She pressed another kiss to his cheek, easing away with a warm smile. "I do solemnly swear not to use your razor on my legs again, too," she added, owning up to something he'd suspected for about a week, but she hadn't been forthcoming about.

That one he'd never been able to understand. Why use a man's razor when there were pretty pink and purple razors made just for a woman' He chuckled at her promise, adding with a smirk, "Baby, in a few weeks, I'll be shaving your legs for you because you won't be able to reach them."

"Or you could just live with the stubble for a while," she suggested impishly. "I'm going, I am going. It takes about an hour to get changed into pajamas these days, anyway."

"I won't be long," he promised, brushing another kiss against her lips before parting. It wouldn't take long to dump the tea, check the animals, and lock up the house before he joined her.

Long enough for her to go through the more embarrassing parts of her nighttime routine without an audience. For some reason, Piper had not to date allowed him to see her brushing her teeth, or struggle to get out of a belly band when she was pregnant. It's the little things, apparently.

On the other hand, Desmond was not terribly modest or shy when it came to his own bedtime ritual. How could he be modest with a child in the house who remarked on his "winkie" on a regular basis" He'd gotten over his embarrassment of that a long time ago. Once his teeth were brushed and he'd changed into a t-shirt and pair of boxes, he flicked off the light and joined her in bed. "Still awake?" he whispered.

"No, you're hallucinating," was her cheeky response. She was definitely spending too much time with Vicki and Elle. The Piper of a year ago wouldn't have responded to that query with sarcasm, ever. She nestled into him, drawing his arms around her with a deep, comfortable sigh. "This is my favorite part of the day."

"So long as we don't end up with two midgets pouncing us in the middle of the night," he said, though in a strange way, he missed that sometimes. Still, he had to agree that it was quiet and peaceful and he was with his favorite girl.

She laughed softly. "They don't pounce anymore," she reminded him. "They insinuate themselves if it's dark. The pouncing happens at ungodly hours like dawn."

Usually during thunderstorms or after bad dreams, he'd noticed. "Do you think she still needs us?" he asked, circling back around to the topic of Lyneth again - the child that wasn't really a child at all.

Now how to answer that' The truth was that Lyneth didn't need anyone. She wasn't the child she loved to pretend to be, and yet she chose to stay small and enjoy the interactions with the world around her that way. Piper's smile faded as she considered this. "I don't think she's ever needed me since the day she was born," she whispered quietly. "She stays because she chooses to. We must be doing something right."

"Because we love her and without us, she'd be all alone," Desmond said, answering his own question, at least partially. He couldn't read Lyneth's thoughts, but he had a feeling he was right. It was the human side of Lyneth that craved love and companionship.

"So she does need us," Piper murmured, tilting her head to look up at him. "Why the sudden concern, Des" Has she said something to you, is she ....does she seem like she's going to leave us behind without warning?"

"No, nothing like that," he was quick to point out. "I guess she's just growing up too fast for me," he said with a half shrug she might feel more than see. Then again, that's what children did, and even though their relationship might change, there was no reason to think she would ever stop loving them or vice versa.

"It doesn't help that she skips entire growth cycles just because she can," Piper drawled, making an effort not to linger on that worry. "But she's only six years old, Des. She isn't going to grow into a teenager tomorrow, and we can't ask her to stay small forever."

"I worry she's going to decide to grow up all at once," he admitted with a small frown she couldn't see in the dark, but could hear in his voice. He rarely spoke of his own fears, but like any human being, he had them.

"So do I." Piper's hands tightened over his, linking her fingers between his own. "We've both seen her adult form. She's so beautiful, Des. But right now" She's innocent, too. I think she knows that. I think she knows that if she wants to live a good life in this world, with us, she needs to grow up like a normal human child."

"I don't want to smother her, and I don't want her to know, but it kind of stings when she pushes us away," he admitted, knowing Piper was feeling it, too, but maybe these were just things that every parent had to go through at some point and accept as their children grew up.

"All children do it," she murmured softly, tilting her head against his. "It isn't unique to her, love. It's a part of growing up, stretching their limits. She doesn't mean to hurt us, and tonight, she was just pushing her luck, which is why she got scolded. But it won't seem very long before she's putting herself to bed, and I'll miss even being pushed away when that happens."

"I suppose," he admitted reluctantly. He couldn't stop Lyneth or any of their children from growing up, after all, even if he did think it was happening too quickly. Even if she wasn't his by blood, he thought of her as his own daughter.

"Enjoy her while she's small," Piper advised gently, stretching to brush a kiss to his cheek. "Enjoy all of them while they're small. And take photographs, so you can embarrass them when they bring their first boyfriend or girlfriend home with evidence of their wildness."

"Oh, God!" Desmond chuckled. "I don't want to think about boyfriends for a very long time!" The rest he knew already, but took her advice to heart. He'd never thought much about it when people said that children grew up too fast, but now he understood exactly what they meant. Of course, it didn't help that Lyneth had cheated a little.

She laughed with him, cuddled in close. "God, can you imagine it' Knowing my luck, Lynnie will go full Goth when she hits fourteen and bring home some tattooed, pierced monster who just happens to have death magic at his fingertips, or worse!"

"God forbid!" Desmond chuckled with her, wrapping her in his embrace as she cuddled closer. "At least, we don't have to worry about that for a while," he added, at least, so long as Lyneth didn't decide to cheat again. He touched a kiss to her forehead, loving and protective. "Get some sleep. You're resting for two."

Piper smiled, nestling into him as she let her eyes drift closed. No matter the ups and downs of their life together, she wouldn't go back to life before Lyneth and Des for all the tea in China. She loved her strange, unpredictable little family, quirks and all.

As fate would have it, Desmond felt the same. There was nothing left for him in New York anymore and hadn't been for a long time. His life, as crazy as it was, was here in Rhy'Din with his family, and he wouldn't have it any other way.