There is nothing better in the world than having a little girl who has a plan. More than that, a little girl who has been given a mission and intends to see it through without mishaps. Des was probably going to have words with his wife about the gentle responsibility she had given Lyneth when she'd realized she was going into labor the evening before - Piper had very calmly drawn their daughter to one side, and told her that today was going to be uncomfortable and awkward, and that it was her, Lyneth's, responsibility to make sure that Daddy got dressed, ate regular meals, and rested.

She had also been put in charge of the animals, who were wisely spending the day in the kitchen, away from the living room, where Piper was currently pacing and talking quietly to Alannah, their midwife. Things weren't moving along anywhere near as fast as they had with Lyneth, but apparently that was to be expected. Her body thought this was a first pregnancy, and therefore all that joy was yet to come. And of course, Lyneth had taken the first opportunity to seize Des by the hand and drag him into the kitchen to make sure her daddy got some lunch into him.

Torn between wife and daughter, Des didn't have much choice but to appease them both by accompanying Lyneth into the kitchen on the pretext that they make some lunch. All things considered, food was the last thing on Desmond's mind at the moment, at least as far as his own stomach was concerned, but Lyneth still needed to eat, as did the various pets who were part of the family. So, while Des was deeply concerned about Piper's well-being as their son readied to make his appearance in the world, pacing along with her would accomplish nothing but to make her and Lyneth nervous. And he didn't want to get in the way of the midwife and her duties, either.

"Sit!" Lyneth ordered him, pointing at one of the chairs by the table. She was very pleased that she'd been given such an important job to do, and unfortunately for Des, she was determined to do it properly. Thankfully, Mummy had been through everything with her a few weeks before. After making sure her Daddy was sitting down, Lyneth turned to the fridge, making use of her little step to pull out the packet of bacon. "You have to eat, or Mummy won't let you hold the baby."

"Oh, really?" Des asked, arching a brow at the little girl who had managed to charm her way into his heart perhaps even before her mother had. "And why is that?" he continued, ever the lawyer always asking questions and requiring proof. "Is she afraid I'll pass out from hunger and drop him?" Despite the serious nature of the circumstances, he couldn't help but smirk a little. He had taken it upon himself to provide for and protect the two most important women in his life, and for some reason, it seemed at least one of them had turned the tables on him.

"Yes." It was a matter of fact little answer, punctuated by the sight and sound of the little girl retrieving a pan from the cupboard and climbing up onto her step to set the bacon to cooking. "And I don't want you to drop my little brother because he won't bounce. People say baby boys bounce, but they don't. They go splat."

"Hmm, and you know all this how?" he inquired, trying hard to keep a straight face. There was nothing that amused him more than trying to understand his young daughter's logic. "Uh, be careful," he warned, in typical fatherly fashion. "Don't put the burner too high or the bacon will splatter and you'll get burned."

She turned, pinning him with that uniquely Lyneth look of hers. "Then you make the bacon," she told him, apparently having been warned not to press her luck while Mummy was busy. "And I'll make the rest, and then you won't sneak away when I'm not looking." She beamed at her father cheerfully, hopping down from her step and dragging it back to the fridge to fill her arms with tomatoes, lettuce, mayo, and butter.

He got up off the chair he'd been ordered into and moved over to the fridge to help her gather the sandwich fixings from the fridge. "Hmm, this wouldn't happen to be some kind of conspiracy between you and your mother to keep me busy, would it?" he asked. From the contents of Lyneth's arms, he deduced she was intent on making BLTs, which certainly explained the bacon. "A li'l bit bossy today, aren't we?" he teased, blue eyes sparkling playfully.

"Mummy can't be Mummy because she's makin' a baby, so I'm Mummy today," was Lyneth's little bit of perverse logic. "I got to look after you and Loki and Knip, and help Mummy when she wants it, and I'm makin' lunch for her, too, and Alannah." Thank goodness for child safe knives, it seemed - she was already wielding her own bright pink version, producing slices of tomato that wouldn't look out of place in a doorstop sandwich.

"I didn't know Mummy was so bossy," Des mumbled, setting the jar of mayo he'd rescued from Lyneth's arms onto the counter before turning his attention to the frying of the bacon that was already staring to sizzle in the pan. Thankfully, she couldn't see the smirk that was playing on his lips as he was busily poking at the bacon. "Okay, so I'm in charge of the bacon. What else do you need me to do, Captain Lyneth?" he asked, offering her a crisp salute with the fork.

"Feed Loki," she told him, grinning at his willingness to play along. It had not been a very tiring experience for them thus far, but the little girl had a feeling that it would get noisy and tiring when Mummy started needing help. "'Cos he's gonna be all whiny if he doesn't get fedded, and Knip will hit him again."

"Aye aye, Captain!" Desmond replied, with another salute. "But who will watch the bacon?" he inquired mischievously. It was too bad they didn't have a cooking sprite, if such a thing even existed. He thought asking Oisin to keep an eye on the bacon might be a bit much for the wee brownie. Des turned the heat down on the bacon before going to the cupboard to fetch Loki's dinner. The little family had decided on a home birth, so long as there were no complications. "You know, Mummy is going to need your help after the baby is born, too, Lynnie."

She nodded, concentrating fiercely on buttering the bread and placing one slice on each of the four plates that she had set out on the counter. "She says I can snuggle and sing, and help with dinner, and I can read to him before bed," she agreed, but with a certain amount of curious uncertainty. "What else can I do, Daddy' I want to be the bestest big sister ever."

"Oh, I think that's a pretty good start, sweetheart, but the most important job of all is just showing him you love him. Babies need a lot of attention and a lot of love, but so do big sisters, wouldn't you say' There might be times when Mummy is too tired from taking care of the baby to do all the things we're used to her doing. That's where you and I come in," he explained, pouring dog food out into Loki's bowl and giving the dog a well-deserved pat before going to give him fresh water.

"And showing Mummy we love her, and that she's not just a big boob for the baby," Lyneth added, repeating almost verbatim something she was not supposed to have overheard. Piper's minor meltdown a few nights before had taken place in the master bedroom well after dark, when the youngest person in the house was supposed to have been asleep. She giggled as Loki licked the back of Des' knee in thanks before tucking into his dinner, shuffling about all the while as Knip playfully menaced his tail. That giggle faded as she heard a low groan from the living room, worry blooming on the little face. "Daddy, why does it hurt so much to make a baby?"

"Do you remember how you couldn't do anything for yourself because you were too little and too helpless" That's what your brother is going to be like, but he won't be able to choose to get bigger if he gets bored. Human babies don't have those choices, and they don't know how to tell anyone what they want or need either, so they cry a lot." He wasn't sure how much of this she already knew, either consciously or intuitively, but whether she was Fae or not, she was still half human and as such, still a child who needed to learn these things.

"Maybe there's a fairy who knows what crying babies mean," Lyneth suggested hopefully. She wasn't sure how she felt about sharing her parents with a crying baby; she'd thought he would be able to grow himself up the way she had done. "He's going to be little and crying forever?"

"Maybe," he replied, though he wasn't too sure himself. Desmond chuckled a little at her question. "No, sweetheart, not forever. Just for a little while, and he's not going to cry all the time. Just when he's hungry or thirsty or lonely or isn't feeling well. It's his way of telling us he needs us, understand?"

The relief on her face was enough to make Piper laugh as she came into the kitchen, curious to know what was taking quite this long. "And just what are you two conspiring about, I wonder?" she asked her husband and daughter, letting Lyneth hug the full curve of her belly as she smiled at Des. Behind her, Alannah chuckled, crouching to say hello to Loki and Knip.

"Just talking about babies and bacon," Des replied with a smile. "Lunch is ready. Lyneth insisted you get the lion's share of the bacon." The sandwiches and glasses of juice were on the table, ready to be devoured. Loki and Knip had been fed, and there was nothing else to do but eat and clean up the dishes. He offered a smile to Alannah before pulling out a chair for his wife, waiting for Lyneth to get her hug in before helping her to her chair.

"Goodness, really?" Smiling, Piper stroked the little blonde head, squeezing Des' hand gratefully as he helped her sit down.

"Yes," Lyneth insisted. "'Cos you need the pro-team. Alannah said." The midwife chuckled at being brought into this discussion, sitting herself down at the table with them. "How long is it going to be until I have a baby to cuddle?" Lyneth then asked, making Piper blink in surprise.

Alannah smiled gently. "It won't be for at least another few hours," she said apologetically. "Your mummy's body is almost ready, but it can take a long time to go from ready to having a baby to cuddle."

"Do you remember when Emily was born?" Des interjected, taking a seat at the table. The question had been obviously aimed at Lyneth. "Do you remember how little and wrinkly she was" Your brother is going to look like that, too." Though they knew the baby was going to be a boy, that boy was as yet unnamed.

The little girl looked up from where she was carefully disassembling her sandwich in preparation to eat. "Do all babies look like that?" she asked, mildly horrified. "I fort Emily looked like that 'cos she was Uncle Jon's baby."

Des arched a brow, carefully containing his laughter at Lyneth's remark. "Because Uncle Jon is small and wrinkly?" he asked, trying to point out the ill logic in her logic. "All babies look like that when they're first born, but they don't stay like that. Emily doesn't look like that anymore, does she?"

"Yeah, but Uncle Jon does this when Auntie Vicki says something rude," she pointed out, demonstrating an outrageously inaccurate example of Jon's expression when Vicki was being particularly unsubtle. "And that's what Emily looked like. And you don't do that, and Mummy doesn't do that. And Emily doesn't look like that anymore 'cos she's got bigger and doesn't think her mummy is rude anymore."

"Well, what can I say to that?" Des said, smirking over at Piper. As flawed as it was, he could not argue with Lyneth's logic. "Maybe your little brother will wrinkle his face up when he thinks you're being rude!" he teased her, making that very same face back at her.

Lyneth's indignant expression brought a round of laughter from the women at the table. Piper rolled her eyes, enjoying the fact that things were not so very different from a normal day, despite the contractions that were keeping her from relaxing into it. "Maybe he'll wrinkle his face up when he smells your farts," was Lyneth's eventual comeback to Des' tease, offered around a mouthful of bacon.

"Oh, really?" Des said with a chuckle of his own. "Wait until you change your first diaper!" he warned with a playful grin. This, he instinctively knew, was exactly what was needed to defeat the Fae who would try to steal her away from them. This simple thing called "family". Despite the fact that Piper was in the beginning stages of labor, it was just an ordinary day in the lives of these three people who made up this little family and who simply adored each other. This love they felt for each other would eventually be her Fae father's undoing. Here, she knew love, and Des had to believe that the love they felt for Lyneth and for each other was even more powerful than Fae magic.

It was love, certainly, that got them through the painful discomfort of the rest of the day. As Piper's contractions grew closer together, Lyneth hovered worriedly, torn between looking after her Daddy and looking after her Mummy, frightened by the pain Piper was obviously in, deeply relieved when those pains passed and she was wrapped up in both parents' arms to reassure her. But eventually, even she had to succumb to sleep, curled up on the couch while Piper labored on into the night.

It was only when the baby's head was crowning that Piper suddenly burst out, "Lynnie! She won't want to miss it ..." Biting down on her lip, she waved Des toward the sleeping child on the couch, fully determined to pause if she had to, until Lyneth was awake enough to witness the birth of her little brother.

Desmond had stayed awake with Piper through it all, helping where he could, just holding her hand when she needed him to be still so that she could rest between contractions. It had taken hours and hours to reach this point, and it was both scary and exciting to those who would witness it. "It's all right, Pip. She's right here," Desmond assured her, touching a kiss to her the back of her hand before moving away momentarily to wake the little girl. "Lynnie," he called quietly, shaking her gently to wake her. "Lynnie, wake up. It's time."

It was nothing short of amazing that the little girl had managed to sleep through everything that had happened so far. She came awake quickly at Des' touch, rubbing her eyes as she yawned. "Time for what?"

"Time for your baby brother to be born!" he explained. "Don't be afraid. Mummy is fine, but it's hard work having a baby, and she's getting tired." He extended a hand to lead her over to where Piper was nearing the end of her labor.

"Time for the baby?" Scrambling to throw off her blanket, there was a yowl as one foot connected with the now no-longer-sleeping Knip, but Lyneth ignored him for the time being, seizing her father's hand to hurry over to where Mummy was almost done.

"There's the best big sister in the world," Piper gasped with a smile, reaching out a trembling hand to touch Lyneth's cheek before she clenched her fingers into the blankets once again.

Lyneth's eyes grew wide as she looked up at Des. "What's happening?"

"How do I do that?" Lyneth actually looked worried, then. She was tired enough not to be hyperactive with delight, and just a little bit overwhelmed by the fact that she had just watched her baby brother being born at all.

"Well, you come and sit between me and Daddy, and you cuddle your little brother," Piper told her fondly, shifting just a little to pat the miniscule space between the two adults. "Like the best big sister always does."

Desmond did most of the shifting, making room for Lyneth to squeeze in between them and cuddle her little brother. He had yet to hold his son, but there would be plenty of time for that later. Right now, it was Lyneth who really needed to bond with her brother, and the sooner the better. "Just talk to him, Lynnie, like you did when he was still inside Mummy's belly."

"But what if he doesn't like me?" the little girl asked worriedly, squeaking in surprise when her baby brother was gently laid on her lap. With only a little guidance, she wrapped her arms about the well-swaddled form, looking down at the little face. She gasped softly as her brother's eyes opened and seemed to focus on her, her own eyes going wide as she smiled. "Hello, baby," she said again. "We can't keep calling you baby, you have to have a name, and Mummy and Daddy say I can give you a name. I thought I had two, but I think you look like a Dylan. Are you a Dylan?"

Des smiled over Lyneth's head at Piper; it was the kind of knowing smile that a man and woman exchanged when they were sharing some unspoken communication between them. He reached for her hand while Lyneth snuggled her new baby brother, proud of the little family he was a part of and feeling as though his life was at last complete.

Tired but buoyed up with her achievement, Piper's smile was radiant as she slipped her arm about Lyneth's back to stroke her hand against Des', her other hand joining his to hold and help steady the baby boy in the little girl's arms. Alannah had long since slipped away, her little gift of magic enough to clean and tidy, leaving the temporary bed more than suitable for the little family to fall asleep in as they bonded together.

"Are you a Dylan?" Lynnie asked again, bending down to kiss the little nose in front of her. "I think you are. I can't think of a second name, 'cept maybe Jon, like Uncle Jon, 'cos my second name is Katherine, like Kaylee, and she's family, too."

"What about Dylan Jonathan?" Desmond suggested, not minding that his son wouldn't share his own name, just as Piper didn't mind that Lyneth didn't share hers. Desmond had seen first hand the pride and joy on Humphrey's face when Jon and Vicki had honored him by giving their son his name for his middle name. What better way to honor his own brother than by doing the same"

Piper smiled, gently kissing Lyneth's hair as her eyes lingered on Des'. "I think we just gave him a name," she said quietly. "I like it. What do you think?"

Though the question was aimed at Des, Lyneth answered happily. "I like it," she agreed, tightening her grip to hug her little brother. "I like him. He can stay."

Almost as if her little brother was agreeing with them, he made small mewling sound and blew a few of bubbles up at his sister before turning his head as if he was looking for something to put in his mouth. "Mmm, looks like he's hungry, and I think it's time for a certain little miss to get some sleep," Desmond remarked, affectionately brushing the little girl's hair back from her face.

Lyneth pouted, reluctant to give up her snuggle so soon. "But I don't want to go to bed," she complained, sighing as Piper took Dylan out of her arms. She did, however, watch in absolute fascination as the newborn latched on to their mother's breast, one hand clenching and relaxing against Piper's soft skin as he suckled. "What's he doing, Daddy' I fort only you did that."

Desmond rolled his eyes at Piper, but he was thankfully smirking in amusement at Lyneth's precociousness. "That's how mothers feed their babies, Lyneth. And it has nothing to do with what goes on between me and your mother, which, young lady, is none of your concern. Now, if you promise to be a good girl and go right to sleep, I think maybe we can make an exception tonight and let you sleep here with us. What do you think, Pip?"

Giggling at Des' gentle reprimand for admitting that she knew things she shouldn't about her parents' relationship, Lyneth beamed at the offer, cuddling into her Daddy as she looked hopefully at Mummy.

Piper smiled wearily at them both. "Oh, I think we can manage it, for one night," she said gently, though she had a feeling they were going to be sharing their bed with Lynnie for a few nights, actually. "So long as she goes straight to sleep."

"What do you say, Pumpkin?" Des asked, as he helped Lyneth get her sneakers off. "Right to sleep without any chatting?" he asked brightly, knowing she was so tired it was likely she'd be out as soon as her head hit the pillow.

"Can I sleep and cuddle?" she asked, wiggling her toes as he pulled her sneakers off her. "Only 'cos I like cuddling, and everyone needs a cuddle, and I been very good, hasn't I?"

Piper chuckled, gently lifting Dylan to her shoulder to burp him as she shifted over a little more. Thankfully, the air mattress they'd bought for the occasion was epic in size - more than big enough for all four of them, and the animals, if Loki and Knip decided to join them.

"You've been very good," Desmond replied, smiling warmly at her as he set her sneakers aside and pulled the covers down so that she could climb into the makeshift bed beside her mother. "Go to sleep, sweetheart, and don't worry about getting up for school tomorrow. I think having a new baby brother is excuse enough for missing a day." He waited for her to climb under the covers to tuck her in.

"Oh, I think that's only fair," Piper agreed, kissing their daughter as Lyneth scrambled over to say goodnight to her. The kiss that was bestowed on newborn Dylan was decidedly gentler, and left Lynnie smiling happily as she returned to give her Daddy his goodnight kiss, too.

"He smells pretty," she commented to Des as she slid under the covers, content in the knowledge that she wouldn't have to be a big girl for a few hours' more.

Des would have told her it was "new baby smell", but he wasn't too familiar with that yet. Though he thought of Lyneth as his own, in truth, baby Dylan was his first child by birth, and all of this was as new to him as it was to Lyneth. He tucked her into bed, pulling the covers up over her, lingering a moment to touch a kiss to her forehead. "Love you, Lyneth. You're the best daughter ever," he whispered softly. "Get some sleep."

The little girl smiled, nestling down into the warm covers. "G'night, Daddy," was murmured softly as she drifted off, too sleepy not to succumb. From the plants on the other side of the room came a rustle of leaves and quiet voices - it seemed that the fair folk who shared their home wanted a look at the new baby, too, though only Oisin was visible. The brownie was sitting on the couch, feet dangling over the edge, grinning at the little family as they settled down.

Piper's smile deepened as she beckoned to Des. "Come here, Daddy," she teased softly. "Come and say hello to your son."