Topic: Just Another Day (Tony/Anya)

Anthony De Luca

Date: 2020-09-05 14:57 EST
The loud chatter of little people filing out of the dance studio after their ballet lesson was one of Anya's favourite sounds. She loved to hear her little students declaring their excitement to their parents about the fun they'd had with Madame Anya, and even more so when one of those little ones was her own daughter, Sofia. At five years old, Sofia had picked up very quickly on the fact that Madame Anya was not Mama, but delighted in being able to throw herself at the teacher when lessons came to an end. Now, hand in hand with her mother, resplendent in her adorable tutu and the topknot bun that only barely held her exuberant dark hair in place, she was tugging hopefully along to Studio C, from which they could hear the sound of the Russian dance from the Nutcracker. Tony was going over a few of the basics with Jamie, at the younger dancer's request, under the watchful eyes of a one-year old with escapist tendencies.

It seemed the men were finished with the unofficial lesson and were chatting amiably about the upcoming auditions, guessing who might or might not audition for another year. Tony was confident Jamie would audition again, and there was no reason why he wouldn't be hired. Auditions, for some, was just a formality, but it wouldn't be fair for hopefuls weren't given a chance.

With a quick check through the glass window to make sure Sasha wasn't lying in wait for the door to open, Anya pushed inside, letting Sofia abandon her hand to patter over to Tony excitedly. "Papa, papa, I did a pirry wet!"

Tony's attention was momentarily distracted from Jamie by the little girl's arrival, but instead of scolding her for interrupting, he only smiled. "You did?" he said. "Let's see!"

Meanwhile, Sasha found his mother's leg and latched on with a muttered, "Mamamamama."

"Hello, malyutka," Anya said cheerfully, bending to lift Sasha up onto her hip and kiss his cheek. "Did you have fun watching your Papa dancing with Jamie?"

Across the room, Sofia executed a pirouette with far more enthusiasm than skill, but did manage to do it without falling over.

Jamie chuckled, applauding her. "You're gettin' so good at that!"

"Molto bene, Sofi!" Tony exclaimed, applauding the five-year-old's attempt. She was no prima ballerina yet, but one had to start somewhere. "She's bound and determined to dance with you," he told Jamie, on the sly.

Meanwhile, Sasha was nodding his head enthusiastically at his mother, before pressing his cheek to her shoulder and sticking his thumb in his mouth.

"Give her a few more years, she might find her own cavalier," Jamie pointed out, but that didn't stop him from lifting Sofia up to twirl her around in the air, filling the studio with her giggles.

"You are going to make every little girl in my class so jealous of her," Anya commented, rubbing her cheek against Sasha's head even as she gently removed the boy's thumb from his mouth.

"Only if they find out," Tony remarked, moving over to greet Anya with a soft kiss. Even after all these years and a pair of children, the pair seemed as in love with each other as they had ever been. He knew all the little girls in Anya's class had secret crushes on one dancer or another, and for Sofia, it seemed to be Jamie.

"That is very true," Anya agreed, smiling as she took Tony's kiss and returned it fondly. They heard Sofia grunt as Jamie dropped her down into the safe cradle of his arms, the breath knocked out of her for a moment.

"I wanna learn all the pretty lifts," the little girl declared.

"All in good time, dolcezza," Tony called over to his daughter. "If you work hard, you can be as good as your mama someday," he added. Rome wasn't built in a day, after all, but with hard work, he believed anything was possible.

Sofia pouted. "But what if I get too big to pick up?" she asked, a worry that need not have bothered her. She might have been dark haired like her father, but her build very much echoed Anya's tiny frame.

Tony chuckled at his daughter's question. "Well, then you will just need a bigger cavalier!" he said, with a twinkle in his dark eyes. He did not want her to worry about such things ever, especially not at such a young age. "One like me, perhaps," he said, stealing her from Jamie's arms and twirling her about the room.

"Still callin' me scrawny, aye?" Jamie accused cheerfully, happy to let the daughter go back to her father's arms. Sofia's pout dissolved into a wide grin as she was twirled about, feet flying, once again painting the air with giggles.

Tony laughed. No one had ever accused Jamie of being scrawny - certainly not the ballerinas who trusted themselves to his arms - but teasing him was all in good fun. In truth, Tony towered over most of the male dancers, but that, in itself, was not what had made his career a success.

"Only compared to me, Jamie!" he called over, before smooching Sofia's cheek and tucking her against his side. "Shall we stop by for one of Aunt Elena's treats before going home, dolcezza?" he asked his daughter.

Sofia's eyes went wide with delighted surprise. "Weelly?" she asked hopefully, hugging him around the neck. "Can I have a brownie" With ice cream?"

"We'll have to ask your mama first, but I think your first pirry wet deserves some kind of reward, don't you think?" he asked, though it wasn't really a question aimed at her, so much as at her mother.

"Mama never says no to a sweet treat from Aunt Elena's," Anya assured the little girl, chuckling as Sofia crowed in delight. "What do you think, malyutka?" she added to the sleepy boy resting on her shoulder. "Would you like something from Aunt Elena's special kitchen?"

Sasha nodded his head again, though it was clear what the little boy really needed was a nap.

Tony chuckled again, as he set Sofia on her feet. "I can take him, Anya. He's had a busy day."

"I am all right for now," Anya assured him. "You can carry him after we leave Elena's. He will be very heavy by then." She winked down at Sofia, who giggled, clinging to her father's hand happily.

Jamie grinned at the little family. "Well, I'll be off, then," he said. "I've a husband who'll be pretending to have slaved over a hot stove waiting for me."

Tony smiled and waved back at Jamie, as Sofia claimed his other hand. He might have invited the young man along, but he knew he was eager to get home. "Say hello for us! We'll see you soon!"

"Aye, I will do," Jamie called back cheerfully. "We'll get you over for dinner sometime soon!"

Anya laughed quietly as the door closed at his back, turning to her husband and daughter. "I suppose we should get going too."

"I suppose we should," Tony said, smiling down at his pretty wife. It was a short walk to his sister's cafe anyway, and he had promised Sofia a treat. "What else did you learn today, piccolina?" he asked their daughter as they started toward the door.

"Madame Anya said we can learn an arry beks," Sofia informed him, quite content to chatter her way out of the studio and down the road, describing the lesson and how much fun she'd had learning a new little dance for the end of the lesson itself.

Tony couldn't help but smirk as Sofia referred to her mother as "Madame Anya", as though she were a different person all together. "Did she?" he said, with a sidelong glance at Anya and that smirk of amusement on his face. "What else did Madame Anya say?"

"She said I have blunt feets but not all the time," was Sofia's answer to that. "But she says everyone has blunt feets when they legs is short."

Anya bit down on her laugh, her expression a near matching smirk to Tony's.

"Blunt feets?" Tony echoed, turning a curious glance to Anya, as if he was in need of translation. He wasn't entirely sure what she meant by that, but he did know that it took years for a girl to train her feet to withstand the rigors of ballet.

"We have not started to work on smoothing our lines yet," Anya told him, clarifying her comment. Essentially, just getting the leg up in the air for a five year old was enough without worrying about pointing her toes as well.

"Ah, I see," Tony said, with a nod of his head. "You will get there someday, Sofi, if that is what you want." He never wanted his children to think that they had to become dancers only because their parents were dancers. He wanted them to be free to choose for themselves.

"I like dancin'," Sofia assured him, swinging her hand back and forth in his grip as they walked. "I like colorin', too. I like lots of things."

"It's good to like lots of things," he assured her. "You have lots of time to try lots of things and see what you like," he added. There was no need to decide what she wanted to do for the rest of her life just yet. She was only five, after all, and he wanted her to have fun.

"I can't fly," she offered up with a grin. "I tried. I went bump, and it hurt."

Behind them, Anya chuckled under her breath, remembering that experiment in a better light than she had seen it at the time. Watching your five year old daughter throw herself out of a tree was enough to stop your heart for several seconds, she now knew.

Anthony De Luca

Date: 2020-09-05 14:58 EST
"It's okay. I can't fly either. Most people can't," Tony told her. "It doesn't matter. I'm sure there are lots of other things you can do. How many people do you know who can pirry wet?"

"Mama, and Josette, and you, and Merry, and Christian," the little girl responded, counting the names off on the fingers of her free hand. "And sometimes Irina, but she doesn't 'cos she says her knees have gone bonkers."

"Oh, Irina used to be an amazing dancer. I'll have to see if I can find some videos I can show you," he told her. Of course, that was even before his time, as Irina was old enough to be his mother.

"She says her knees have gone bonkers?" Anya repeated laughingly, enjoying the mental image of the very elegant, put together Irina with knees out of her own control.

"She could see a healer," Tony murmured, mostly to Anya. People in Rhy'Din tended to live longer and healthier lives than those who lived on Earth, but maybe Irina was content with how things were.

"She may not wish to," Anya murmured back with a fond smile. "She is very set in her ways, and she was a very successful dancer. I am not surprised her body is betraying her a little these days."

"She seems happy enough," Tony remarked. In truth, Irina didn't really need to work anymore, but she was one of those people who would probably continue to do so until the day she died. "Here we are!" he said, upon reaching the cafe. He looked over at Anya, only to find Sasha asleep on her shoulder. "Is he asleep?"

She chuckled, nodding. "He is." She gently hoisted the little boy more comfortably onto her shoulder. "Watching you dance tired him out."

She glanced up as they walked into the cafe, unsurprised to see Elena and Michela moving at speed out from behind the counter to greet an equally excited Sofia.

"That's because he was trying to dance, too," Tony told her, though the little boy was still mastering walking. He smiled as he spied his sister and niece moving to greet them. "How's my favorite niece?" he asked her.

Michela giggled up at her Uncle Tony, releasing Sofia to raise her arms to him and claim her hug and kiss. "'lo, Unca Toby," she said in a slightly snotty voice.

Elena laughed, smooshing her own niece close for a moment. "She's got a cold," she warned.

"So I see," Tony said, giving his niece a hug, none the less. He wasn't going to let a simple cold deter him from showering her with love. "Sofi did her first pirouette today and we thought we'd come by to celebrate," he explained.

"Oh, wow!" One thing Elena was very good at was expressing delight and pride without it seeming forced at all. She tweaked Sofia's nose teasingly. "This calls for an extra special brownie, then!"

The little girl cheered happily, not even bothering to look at her parents. She knew Elena would find a way to give her the brownie, even if they said no.

Tony chuckled. "Nice to see you too, El," he said, at the lack of a hug from his sister. He got one from his niece though, so that was something.

"Oh, don't be so stodgy," Elena informed her big brother, finally letting Sofia go to give him a hug of her own. "Hi, ballerino, how's it hanging?"

"It's hanging pretty well," he replied, not even bothering to hide his amusement as he wrapped his sister in a brotherly hug. "How are you? How's Michael?"

"I'm good," Elena assured him, throwing a quick glance to Mags behind the counter, who was already preparing the little family's usual order without being asked. "Michael's balls deep in editing, or he'd be here, too." She smiled at her brother affectionately.

"We should drag him out of his study for a night out sometime," Anya suggested, absently rocking Sasha on her shoulder.

"All work and no play and all that," Tony readily agreed as he led the way toward a booth. "Care to join us?" he asked of his sister and niece, though he wasn't sure if they had time to take a short break.

"I am always ready to sit down and shoot the sh ....itz-tzu with my big bro and his family," Elena declared, following along to hoist Michela and Sofia up onto the seat next to each other before scooching in next to them.

"Do you want me to take him?" he asked Anya of the little boy on her shoulder, waiting to do just that before he claimed a seat.

"I am well enough for this for now, milaya," Anya assured him. "You may carry him home." She grinned, winking at her husband, secure in the knowledge that Sasha was going to be a dead weight for that walk back.

"Maybe we should wake him," Tony suggested, letting her take a seat before doing the same. Or maybe they should just make sure take a treat home for the little boy to enjoy later.

"It is his usual time for a nap," Anya mused, carefully arranging the sleeping boy on her lap as she got comfortable. "I think we should let him sleep. Disturbing his routine will only result in tears later."

Tony nodded. "We can bring him home some cookies for later," he suggested, knowing Sasha's fondness for cookies, especially chocolate chip.

"It's a fresh batch just out of the oven, too," Elena told them cheerfully. "We've been baking in Liza's massive oven." She saw Anya's mouth open, and sighed dramatically. "I have given in. I do not own any appliances in my cafe, they all belong to my cook."

Tony looked a little confused at his sister's statement. "But ....it's your cafe," he said, unsure what she meant by that. He only knew how to run a ballet company, not a cafe.

Elena laughed. "Tell that to Liza," she said in amusement. "Not that I mind. She lets me come and go and experiment, so long as I don't get in her way. And she's the best cook in the area."

"I won't argue with that," Tony said, smiling. He'd had Liza's cooking, after all, and agreed that no one could compare. Not even his mother, but he'd never tell her that.

As they spoke, Mags bustled over with a laden tray, laying out tea and coffee for the adults, juice for the children, brownies and ice cream for the girls, raspberry cheesecake for Anya, key lime pie for Elena, a maple and pecan danish for Tony, and a small closed box of cookies for them to take home for Sasha later. The hobbit woman winked at the giggling girls as she slipped away.

It was the usual array of goodies that they normally ordered, and yet, Tony's mouth watered at the sight and smells before him. Everyone had their favorites, including him. "Thanks, Mags!" he said, before turning to his sister with a smile. "No one makes coffee like you, El," he told her, taking a sip from his cup.

"Not everyone got taught how to do it by Mama," his little sister pointed out, sipping her own coffee while keeping half an eye on the two little girls digging into their sweet treats beside her. "So I guess today was dance day, huh?"

"Mmhmm," Tony murmured as he sipped his coffee, savoring the taste as the caffeine did its magic. "Pirouette, remember?" he said, gesturing in a circular motion with his fingers.

"It's not often you show up in your tights, though," Elena pointed out, smirking as Anya chuckled into her tea cup. "Just so eager to get hold of your danish today, I guess."

"Afraid some of your customers might faint?" he teased. Though it was true he was wearing tights, he had a sweatshirt tied around his waist that gave him a modicum of modesty.

"Oh, ballerino, I've had most of your corps in here in nothing but leotards on hot days," Elena said laughingly. "You're good, trust me."

"And he is mine," Anya added softly.

"I suppose I should have changed before we left," he murmured with a shrug. No matter. No one seemed to care but him. "When are you going to get Michael in tights?" he teased back, a smirk on his face.

"When hell freezes over, apparently," was her prompt reply. "But I figure it'll happen when Michela decides she wants to be Wendy to his Peter Pan at Halloween one year."

Michela looked up, her eyes bright. "That's a real good idea!"

"Uh ..." Tony stammered, giving Anya a sidelong glance. "Apparently, Peter Pan is alive and living on Rhy'Din," he murmured. At least, that was the rumor. He'd heard it from Mataya, who'd heard it from Jon, who apparently knew it for a fact.

"No, he's in a book, and he wears tights, and it's Daddy's turn to come trickle-treeping with me this year!" Michela announced, waving her sticky hand happily.

Tony wisely said nothing more on the subject of Peter Pan, but nothing about Rhy'Din really surprised him anymore. He was just as likely run into Peter Pan as anyone else here. "Who are you dressing up as this year?" he asked, changing the subject

Anthony De Luca

Date: 2020-09-05 14:58 EST
"Mumma's gunna be the wickie whizz!" Michela answered delightedly, setting Elena off laughing for a moment. "All gween and pointy!"

"Hmm, that should be interesting," Tony remarked with a wink at his sister. "But what about you?" he asked. Elena had mentioned she might want to be Wendy someday, but that didn't mean it was going to happen this year.

"Glindy," Michela informed him. "Mumma said I can wear all the glitter I want!"

Elena sighed, despite her smile. "I'm going to be finding it in my underwear for weeks," she predicted.

Michela nudged her, eyes bright. "Can I say, can I?"

"You're going to be washing it out of her hair for weeks," Tony remarked with a chuckle, as he picked up a fork and cut into his danish. "What about you, piccola?" he said, looking to Sofia. "Who do you want to be for Halloween this year?"

Sofia looked very thoughtful for a long moment, somehow managing to ignore her cousin squirming on the seat next to her trying to get an answer out of Elena. "Can I be a dragon?"

"A dragon?" Tony echoed, brows furrowing. "Hm, maybe. If we can find you a costume," he said. Or have one made, and he knew just the person to ask.

"What color dragon would you like to be, solnyska?" Anya asked Sofia curiously. A part of her was not surprised by the answer.

"A blue one," the little girl said firmly. After all, the only dragon she had ever met was blue, and currently lived at Maple Grove.

"Maybe I can talk a certain someone into making a costume," Tony mused aloud. Though he didn't mention her name, they all knew he meant Miranda. Then again, if all the children at Maple Grove asked her to do the same thing, she wouldn't have time for much else.

"When does she ever say no?" Anya said in amusement. "But perhaps we should ask her before September begins this year - it is a busy month for her."

Elena grinned. "Excellent," she declared. "Then we claim Mama's sewing this year!"

"Not as much as she should," Tony replied with a grin, though he didn't want to take advantage. Everyone had a breaking point, even someone as endlessly energetic as Miranda Granger.

"She is better at it since Rufus convinced her that he cannot be left alone with a small child or her house will be destroyed on a daily basis," Anya mused teasingly.

"I doubt that took much convincing," Tony said, having overheard Miranda complain numerous times about that to various people. "I wonder if Mama would be interested in helping," he mused aloud. What else did his mother have to do with her time anyway, and she adored the children.

"She might," Elena mused. "She does like having the kids around her a lot, and she gets on with the Grangers like nobody's business."

"Can't hurt to ask," Tony said with a shrug, before taking another bite of his danish. "I wonder if 'Tay would be willing to host a party at the theater this year."

"For Halloween?" Anya asked, gently shifting Sasha as he slipped down her shoulder. "Or do you mean for the winter festival?"

"Good question," Tony replied with another shrug. He'd been thinking about Halloween, but then there was usually a big trick-or-treating event at Maple Grove every year that they were usually invited to attend.

"She likes going trick or treating with Oscar," Elena said, sipping her coffee slowly. "If she was going to host a Halloween party, it'd be a late start if it was on the night."

"We'll have a party another time then," Tony said, reaching to relieve Anya of Sasha before he put her arm to sleep.

Sasha barely stirred as Anya let Tony take him from her arm, relieved to have the weight removed for the time being. The baby boy cuddled into Tony's chest, his thumb back in his mouth. E

Elena laughed quietly, almost absently wrapping her arm about Michela as her own daughter leaned over to kiss her mom's middle. "'Taya loves parties," she pointed out. "Just mention you'd like one, she'll find an excuse."

Tony noticed the way Michela kissed her mother's tummy, arching his brow in curiosity. Why didn't she just kiss her mother's cheek" Unless ....

"El, are you ...?" he asked, leaving the rest of his question dangling.

Elena just grinned over at her brother, her eyes sparkling in delight as Michela lifted her head and let the news drop. "We is having a baby!" she declared happily.

Tony's smile widened into a grin at the news. "Congratulations!" he told them both. "It's about time! When is the baby due" Do you know what you're having?" he asked in a flurry of questions.

"March," Elena told him, hugging Michela as the little girl crowed happily. "And, uh, yeah ....what are we having, Mica?"

Michela beamed. "One of both!" she said cheerfully.

"One of ....Both"!" Tony echoed, his jaw dropping open. Thankfully, he had a pretty good hold on Sasha or he might have dropped him, too. "You're having twins?" he asked, though that much seemed obvious.

"Looks like it," his sister said quietly, her eyes crinkling with her smile. "Same problems as last time, but we knew it might happen this time around, so I haven't needed to go to a hospital at all."

"That's good," Tony said, a look of relief on his face to hear that. "What's Michael think of the news" I bet he almost had a heart attack!" he added with a chuckle.

"Him' I'm the one who freaked out!" Elena admitted laughingly. "I was a mess for a week until Mica here pointed out that I was worrying over nothing."

"Parents always worry about their children," Tony said, glancing momentarily at Anya. "Even when they aren't born yet." It wasn't only mothers who worried, but fathers, too. He knew because he worried himself every day, not only about Anya, but Sofia and Sasha, too.

"No one can worry as much as me," Anya said confidently, reaching across the table to clean Sofia's mouth and hands as the little ballerina beamed. "I am a mess virtually every day."

Tony glanced at his wife again, brows furrowed in concern. He knew she worried, just as he did, just as every parent did about their children, but he wouldn't have gone quite that far. "What do you mean, you're a mess?" he asked her. "We are in this together, tesoro."

Anya smiled up at him. "I don't seem to recall you crying over the dishwasher this morning because you had forgotten how to make bowls fit," she pointed out laughingly. She knew she was intensely emotional over the strangest things, but she could laugh at it.

Tony's frown deepened. What had he been doing that he'd missed that' "No, I don't usually cry over the dishwasher," he said. In fact, he rarely cried about anything anymore. He had no reason for tears.

"Hormones, milaya," she told him. "They are a terrible burden."

Anya kissed his cheek, hoping he would catch the hint and not push the topic too far. She had a feeling Elena's smirk meant she had guessed the reason herself.

He studied her a moment, unsure if she was merely hormonal or if something else was going on. She couldn't be pregnant, too, could she" He didn't think she wanted any more. In any case, it didn't seem he was going to find out right now. "You are being very vague, Anya," he scolded her mildly.

"Only because we have not yet had this conversation recently," she assured him softly.

Elena snorted into her coffee at the affectionate tease. "Okay, I gotta get my little miss home so we can pull her dad out of his office and make dinner," she said, moving to her feet.

She was also talking in circles, but Elena interrupted before he could say as much. Turning his attention back to his sister, he smiled. "Keep in touch, okay, El?" he told her, reaching to give her a one-armed hug, as Sasha was still snuggled against his chest.

"You know I will," she promised, kissing her big brother's cheek as she hugged back, letting Michela snuggle to his leg for a moment before reclaiming her daughter. "You better text me when the penny drops."

"Uh, sure," he said, looking a little confused. There was something going on here that he wasn't aware of yet, but he was pretty sure he was about to find out. "Take good care of your Mama, piccola," he told his niece, patting the top of her head.

"I will, Uncle Tony," Michela promised, exchanging a wide grin with Sofia as the rest of the family slid from the booth. "You're gonna come and play soon, yeah?"

Anthony De Luca

Date: 2020-09-05 14:58 EST
"We'll bring her by to play soon," Tony assured her regarding his daughter. "Promise," he added with a smile of his own.

"Okay." Michela beamed happily, hugging Elena's leg as she watched the rest of their family file out through the door.

Sofia waved, clinging to Anya's hand as they slipped out into the afternoon sunlight. "Can I wear jimjams when we get home?"

Tony handed the bag of cookies Elena had promised them to Anya for safekeeping so he could take the full weight of Sasha in his arms. "Is it bath night?" he asked, in reply to Sofia's question.

The little girl shook her head vehemently, and for once, she was right. Tomorrow was bath night in the De Luca house.

"I think jimjams when we get home is a lovely idea," Anya said, tilting her head toward Tony with a warm smile. "We deserve an evening where we all just lounge about."

"Does that mean I get to take my tights off?" Tony asked with a smirk on his face. It wasn't the first time he'd been teased about wearing tights and it probably wouldn't be the last.

"Only if you intend to wear boxers in their place," Anya said with a grin of her own. "Your children do not need to see your jock sock, my darling."

Tony laughed. "I was thinking maybe we'd all get changed into our jimjams," he said, echoing his daughter's reference to pajamas. They'd all had a busy day and deserved a lazy evening.

"Are we gonna have a jimjam picnic for dinner?" Sofia asked hopefully, swinging Anya's hand back and forth as they made their way toward the little cottage that was home.

"Outside?" Tony asked, tilting his head toward Sofia with a curious look on his face. There was no reason they couldn't really. It was still summer, after all, and no one would care if they were in their pajamas.

The little girl nodded enthusiastically. "With the cushions and the blankets and stuff," she suggested.

Anya smiled, catching Tony's eye. "We do still have that canopy up," she mused.

Tony might have shrugged if he didn't have a small boy's head lying upon one shoulder. "I have no objections," he said, eager to change out of his tights, which tended to get a little itchy after a while.

"Then I suppose Papa is helping you both get changed while I make the garden comfortable for us," Anya said in amusement, reaching down with both hands to hoist Sofia in a faux jump over a fire hydrant.

There was still something Tony wanted to speak with Anya about - namely, the matter of a penny dropping - but that was something he wanted to discuss in private. "I suppose Papa is," he said with a grin.

That conversation was coming, but like every parent the world over, they both knew that they were going to have to settle the children down first.

"Can I make a picture for Aunt Elena?" Sofia asked, waiting impatiently for Anya to unlock the door. "And for Uncle Michael, and for Mica, 'cos they're having a baby."

"They're having two babies," Tony corrected his daughter. "God help them," he added with a chuckle. One infant was hard enough to take care of  without it being two, but he knew Elena and Michael would get plenty of help.

"But can I make a picture for them?" Sofia insisted.

Anya chuckled gently as she drew her little family into their house. "Of course you may, solnyshka," she promised. "But first, jimjams!"

"I think I'm going to have to wake someone up," Tony said, shifting Sasha's weight in his arms while he followed Anya and Sofia inside.

"He won't sleep much longer," Anya predicted, smiling fondly as she stroked her fingertips first against Sasha's cheek, and then against Tony's. "Let me take him, and he can finish his nap down here while you deal with the princess, hmm?"

"Are you sure?" he asked, more than willing to handle both children. "I'll bring you his pa ....jimjams," he said, correcting himself with a smirk. He wasn't the kind of father who was afraid of helping with the children; just the opposite, in fact.

"I am sure," she promised, reaching to take the little boy into her arms once again. "Besides, you have to catch Sofia and get her out of her leotard. No simple feat."

There was that smirk again. "Oh, ye of little faith," he told her. Catching Sofia wouldn't be the problem, but getting her out of the leotard might be.

"My faith in you is beyond measure," she teased in return, offering him a kiss as a thump from overhead announced that Sofia had reached her bedroom and was looking for pajamas.

He chuckled at the way she said that. "It's just jimjams," he replied, touching a kiss to her nose as he handed the little boy off. "I better go make sure she doesn't destroy her room."

"Yes, you had," his wife agreed, cuddling their son close as she stepped back. With Tony wrangling Sofia, it didn't take long for her to settle Sasha down for a nap outside beneath the shade of the canopy where his sister would soon join him, and root out her own pajamas from the laundry room to change into.

Tony debated sneaking up on Sofia, but in the end, decided to thump his way up the stairs, taking them two at a time. "You had better not be making a mess in there!" he called a warning, though there was a teasing tone in his voice.

"It's not a mess, it's just undies!" her little voice called back, and a quick glance into her room showed that she was being truthful. Underwear and pajamas were strewn all over her room in the search for the perfect pair to wear for the rest of the day.

Tony sighed as he reached her room and saw the mess. "You only need one pair, you know," he pointed out, as he stepped into the room and starting collecting all the discarded clothing, one piece at a time.

"But I like these ones," she said, finally holding up a onesie decorated with ballerina unicorns. "Mama put them at the bottom of the drawer." She smiled innocently up at her father, knowing perfectly well she was pushing her luck.

"Uh, are you sure those still fit you, piccolina?" he asked as he set the discarded clothes on her bed and went over to inspect the pajamas she'd picked out. "Isn't it a bit warm for these?" he asked further, seeing as it was still summer.

"But we will be outside, won't we, Papa?" Sofia asked sweetly. She hadn't intentionally chosen the worst possible pajamas for hanging out on a summer's day, but they were a bad choice.

"Yes, but it's not cold out yet. If you were those, you are going to get too warm," he told her, turning to look through the pile of rejects that he'd set on the bed. "What about these?" he asked, picking through the pile to find a matching pink cotton top and shorts in a lamb print.

"You really think it's too hot?" his daughter asked curiously, somehow oblivious to the fact that her leotard was soaked with sweat from her exertions and the walk home in the sunshine.

Tony chuckled. "Yes. Let's get you out of those sweaty clothes," he told her, as he took a seat on the edge of the bed. She had plenty of so-called jimjams to choose from besides the ones she'd picked. "Why do you want to wear those, piccolina?" he asked curiously.

"Because they're the jimjams I had when I was sick, and everybody cuddled on the sofa with me, and we watched movies and it was really nice," she said. Put like that, it was difficult to see the correlation between particular pajamas and having a lovely afternoon with her family.

"But Sofi, it doesn't matter what jammies you wear. We can still cuddle on the couch and watch movies. We do it all the time," Tony reminded his daughter, though it was hard to argue with a child's logic.

"It was a really nice day," she pointed out, wriggling out of her leotard with no little difficulty. Even cotton lycra was not friendly on hot days.

Tony helped her as best he could, knowing how sticky a leotard could be, especially on a warm day. "Today or the day you were sick?" he asked, still trying to follow her logic.

"The day I was sick," she explained. "Mandy at ballet said that when you remember things being really good, they won't ever be that good again, and I want to have a day just as good as that one so she's wrong."

Tony frowned, brushing a strand of hair from his daughter's eyes. "But you've had plenty of good days, Sofia. Wasn't today a good day' It might be fun cuddling, but it's not fun being sick, is it' Remember how tired you felt and how you couldn't eat anything" You couldn't even eat a brownie, remember?"

She frowned back at him, more confused than upset. "So they wasn't special cuddles because I was sick, they just were normal cuddles that felt special because I couldn't eat brownies?"

Anthony De Luca

Date: 2020-09-05 14:58 EST
"Sweetheart," Tony started, pulling her close, a soft smile on his face for his daughter. "Your Mama and I love you. Doesn't matter if you're sick or not. We will always love you, but when you're sick and not feeling well, we try to give you extra cuddles to make you feel better."

Sofia snuggled in, always happy for cuddles with her Papa. "Mandy is wrong, isn't she?" she asked hopefully. "'Memberin' things doesn't make them never happen again?"

"No, it doesn't," Tony replied, holding his daughter close. "Besides, why would you want to feel sick when you can get cuddles any time you want?" he asked her, one hand smoothing her hair back from her face.

"Bein' sick is icky," she agreed wholeheartedly. "It's all sweaty and achy, and sleepy, and you miss lots of stuff, and applesauce is dez-gustin'!"

Tony chuckled. "Everything is disgusting when you're sick," he agreed, kissing her forehead before pulling away just far enough that he could help her get her summer jammies on. "What do you think?" he asked, holding up two different summery-looking tops. "Moons and stars and sheep, or hearts and flowers?"

"Moons and stars and sheeps!" she declared happily, wriggling out of her vest to hold her arms up and be dressed in her pajamas for their lazy afternoon.

"Sheeps it is!" Tony declared, helping his little girl out of her vest and into her so-called jimjams. It was what most people would find a mundane moment between a father and daughter, but for Tony every moment was precious because he knew it wouldn't last.

And it always came with a healthy dose of giggling, cuddles, and kisses, too. Sofia was an affectionate little ballerina, and she never failed to share her good mood with everyone around her. Even when they got back downstairs to find Sasha asleep in the shade outside and Anya in her own pajamas with cool drinks for the three of them, Sofia was still bright and bubbly, chattering about her plans to draw pictures for her Aunt Elena and Uncle Michael.

Tony left Sofia with Anya, still chattering away, and snuck away to change out of his practice clothes and into a loose-fitting t-shirt and shorts, which were about as close to jammies as Tony got. He returned with a takeout menu in one hand and a juice pop for Sofia in the other.

"Surprise!" he said, handing the frozen treat off to his daughter.

"Yay!" Little hands reached out for the treat, and for at least ten minutes, Sofia's parents were guaranteed no interruptions as their little girl pattered into the garden to go and sit in the sunshine and eat her pop.

Anya laughed quietly, shaking her head. "I see we are not cooking tonight?"

"It's been a busy day. Do you really want to cook?" he asked, handing her the takeout menu. It wasn't everyday they ordered out, after all, so doing so was a treat.

"Not particularly, no," she agreed with a smile, taking a sip of her drink as she took the menu from him. Her eyes flickered to her husband as she read, that small smile playing about her lips as she waited for him to address the elephant in her womb.

It hadn't taken long for that so-called penny to drop. Tony had just been waiting for a moment alone with Anya to ask. "So ....Care to explain what you and Elena were going on about?" he asked, giving her a chance to confirm his suspicions before he pressed her harder.

Her smile deepened as he spoke. "Oh, just that hormones are a terrible thing," she told him teasingly. "Especially when you're pregnant."

Tony's smile widened as she confirmed his suspicions. He wasn't sure what the big secret was, but maybe she had only found out herself. "Really?" he asked, eyes lighting up with happiness. He had assumed Anya didn't want to birth any more babies, so he was as surprised as anyone.

His wife laughed softly. "I was not certain, so I did not want to tell you only to disappoint you if it was not so," she explained. "But I got the letter back today. We are going to have another baby, milaya."

She did not seem too upset with that, so how could he not be happy. "Anya! That is wonderful news!" he told her, leaning close to cup her cheek in his hand and brush a tender kiss to her lips. "That makes me very happy, tesoro, but are you happy?"

She smiled into his kiss, looping her arms about his waist to hug him. "I am," she admitted. "It is a surprise, yes, but ....it feels right. I am not so concerned about not dancing for a few months. Da, I am very happy."

Neither of them had really been dancing in front of an audience for some time now, spending most of their professional time on teaching younger dancers so that they could focus their energy on raising a family. His smile widened to know their family was going to be growing again. "Do you miss dancing, Anya?"

She considered that for a moment. "Not so much anymore, I think," she said eventually. "It was not so much the dancing, as it was the dancing with you, and we can do that anytime. I enjoy teaching little people to dance."

"They adore you," Tony told her, though she probably knew that already. Who could have guessed that their lives would have taken them in this direction' Like Anya, he didn't really miss the stage and the accolades so much, so long anymore, so long as they were together. She would always be his prima ballerina, whether they shared the stage or not.

"I danced a lot longer than I ever thought I would," she admitted with a faint grin. "But I enjoy our life here - our children, our family. If I were given the choice, I would choose to never dance again if it meant I could keep everything else we have built together."

"Hush now, do not say such things," he scolded her gently, pressing a fingers against her lips to silence her a moment. He did not want her to jinx herself, knowing how much she enjoyed dancing, even if they were no longer regular performers on stage. They would always be involved with the ballet in one form or another; it was part of who they were, but their personal lives with their family was even more precious. He touched his fingers to her belly, though there was no sign of any swelling just yet. "Do you know when?"

She kissed his fingertips fondly. "April," she told him. "It is still very new. We cannot even have a scan until the end of September."

"That is very happy news, Anya," he told her, assuring her he was happy, though it was obvious enough from the look on his face. "Ti amo, tesoro," he whispered against her lips before kissing her again.

"Ti amo," she murmured back to him, more than happy to kiss and be kissed, hugging her arms tight about his waist as they shared in a little private celebration for a moment. Only a moment, however; they had barely drawn back for breath before two pairs of little hands were wrapping about their legs, demanding to be brought in on the hug as well.

Tony couldn't help but smirk, assuming those little hands belonged to Sasha. Though other children sometimes woke up cranky, the little boy was an angel, waking up with nary a whimper but a silent request for a hug. "We have company," he whispered against Anya's lips.

"I never would have guessed," she murmured back, her eyes crinkling above her smile as she leaned back to look down. Both the children were there - Sofia with a sticky face and hands, and Sasha looking adorably rumpled.

"We love you too!"

Tony laughed at the sight of their two children - one sticky and one rumpled - but he adored them both. Ah, well, he had been the one to give Sofia the juice bar, so he couldn't very well blame her. "Come on, you two. Let's get you washed up," he said, tapping Sofia's nose. "And let's get you in your jimjams," he said to Sasha, doing the same. "And then we're ordering pizza."

"Come here, malyutka," Anya said, bending to lift Sasha up into her arms. "Time for jimjams and potty and a drink before we start arguing about what goes on the pizza." Sofia beamed up at Tony, waggling her sticky fingers at him impishly.

Tony chuckled at his wife and daughter and bent over to sweep a bleary-eyed Sasha into his arms. "I'll do the laundry," he volunteered. With two active children and a pair of ballet dancers, there was never any lack of laundry to be done in the De Luca household.

Giving Sasha up to his father easily, Anya took charge of little miss sticky. "Leave the laundry," she said. "We can catch up with it tomorrow. Today, we are all going to relax!"

"As you wish, Anya," Tony replied easily enough. The laundry wasn't going anywhere, after all. By all rights, he probably should have taken Sofia, since it was his fault she was sticky, but it amused him to no end to see Anya deal with it.

This was, admittedly, because Anya's means of dealing with Sofia being sticky was to sit her on the counter by the sink, wet a cloth, and drop it in her daughter's head before getting started. Sofia's giggles echoed around the kitchen, only barely muffled through the cloth as she was wiped clean.

Meanwhile, Tony carried his son up the stairs to get him cleaned up and changed into his pajamas. The boy was a little too young to carry on much of a conversation with his father, so Tony filled the silence by singing him a silly song and tickling his sides instead.

With Tony busy upstairs, he didn't notice the knock on the door, or the sudden hushed whispering between his wife and daughter as they thanked whoever was there before shutting it once again. This was a surprise that had been planned for a while - it was just serendipity that it was happening on the same day as the other surprise.

Anthony De Luca

Date: 2020-09-05 14:59 EST
Tony returned from his task with Sasha in his arms, now in his jammies and looking far more wide-eyed than he had when he'd first woken up. He was so wide-eyed, in fact, that as soon as they reached the bottom of the stairs, the little boy was wriggling his way out of his father's arms so he could in search of his sister.

Sasha was so insistent, in fact, that it was unlikely Tony noticed a few of the changes in the living room as they passed through, but it was hard to miss what was going on in the garden. Sofia was laughing uproariously as a small gray puppy bounded around on the grass, apparently absolutely delighted with their garden. Anya was chuckling to herself as she watched, glancing over at Tony with a faint smile.

"This was the plan," she told him in amusement. "The baby was not."

Tony scooped the little boy up again and deposited him on the grass near his sister, a look of shocked surprised coming over both their faces. "A puppy?" Tony laughed, stating the obvious. As for Sasha, he looked delighted.

Laughing at the way the little puppy bounded over to Sasha just to lick his face and make him laugh before bounding away, Anya nodded. "One of Merry's elven friends, his pit bull had puppies and he was looking for homes for them," she explained. "I've seen you with Mataya's dogs, and the children, too. But he is yours to name, milaya."

"A puppy and a baby, all in the same day," Tony said, sliding an arm around Anya's waist. "You never cease to amaze me, tesoro," he whispered, pressing another kiss to her lips. And it wasn't even his birthday!

She laughed, nestling into his arms happily as their children’s' laughter resounded about the garden, accompanied by the quiet barks of a little dog who had just found his forever home. "So what will you call him?"

Tony smirked. "I am tempted to name him Apollo," he said, not only borrowing the name from the Greek Gods, but also from the ballet of the same name, for which Tony had danced the lead role a few times.

"He certainly has the energy of the god of the sun," she agreed, watching as Sofia very cautiously reached out to the little puppy. The dog and his littermates had been so well socialised that he barely needed a moment to sniff her hand before he pounced straight onto her chest, knocking the little girl onto her back to cover her face in doggy kisses as she cackled with laughter.

Tony chuckled as he watched the puppy and the children at play. "You're a brave woman, Anya. A husband, two children, another on the way, and a puppy is a lot to put up with," he told her, but from the look on his face, he couldn't be happier.

"Nothing is better than seeing my family happy," she said, resting her head on his shoulder to watch as Sofia coaxed Sasha closer to try and pet the rambunctious puppy that had joined their family.

"You have made me very happy, Anya," he told her, turning his head to touch a kiss to her forehead. "So, what do you think. Is he an Apollo?"

"I think he will grow into it," she predicted, delighted that Tony was happy with the monumental changes that had come into their lives today. She had only planned for one of those changes, but it seemed appropriate somehow that both had dropped on the same day. The puppy would certainly mitigate some of her hormonal ups and downs over the next few months, that was certain.

"I'm sure he will," Tony replied confidently. How could he not be happy' He had everything he'd ever wanted in life. He could not deny that he was truly blessed. He chuckled as he watched their two children cavort with the puppy. "They are going to need a bath," he remarked.

"It will not hurt them to go to bed grubby and bathe in the morning," she mused, smiling as the puppy made his clumsy, enthusiastic way over to where they stood together, wet nose snuffling at Tony's ankle. "I think he wants to meet you, milaya."

"I think he does, too," Tony agreed, shifting so that he could offer the puppy the palm of his hand for sniffing. "Well, hullo there. It seems you're the newest addition to the family," he told the puppy, though he couldn't possibly understand what Tony was saying.

The little dog pawed at his hand, rumbling noises from his throat even as he panted and licked at Tony's fingers. Anya watched, trying to hold in a laugh, feeling Sofia and Sasha lean against her legs to watch.

"Think he likes pepperoni?" Tony asked, his fingers curling to scratch the puppy's chin and then moving to do the same to the fur behind his ears. "What should we name him?" he asked, looking to the children for suggestions.

The puppy seemed blissfully happy with a few adult scritches, leaning up into Tony's hand as the little family discussed him. "I think all dogs like meat of any kind, but it may be a little spicy for him at the moment," Anya warned in amusement.

Sofia leaned forward, her expression vaguely suspicious. "Are you sure it's a boy?"

"Mama says he's a boy," Tony confirmed, reluctant to check for himself in front of the children. He assumed whoever Anya had got the puppy from had done so already. It would be strange to name him Apollo if he was really a she though.

"He is definitely a boy, solnyshka," Anya assured them all. "Does that mean you do not like him anymore?"

How she managed to keep a straight face was anyone's guess, because Sofia's immediate horror at the thought of not liking her new best friend was palpable. "No! No, I like him, I like him lots!"

"I think he likes you, too," Tony remarked, chuckling as the puppy seemed to prove his point by licking Sofia's face. "I was thinking about naming him Apollo. What do you think?"

Giggling, Sofia wriggled her fingers against the little dog's fur affectionately. "What's Aploplo mean?" she asked curiously. Anya stayed out of this - Tony chose the name, he got to defend and explain it.

Tony smirked, tossing a wink at Anya. "A-poll-o," he enunciated slowly. "He was one of the Greek gods." Was or is" One could never be too sure on Rhy'Din.

"Ap-lo-po," Sofia repeated, very nearly getting it right. "Was he a nice one?" she asked, tilting her head up at her parents.

"He was the god of the sun, and of music, and of healing," Anya told her. "He was the god of a lot of things you like."

"He was also protector of the young ....which means you two!" Tony said, reaching out to gently poke both Sofia and Sasha in the tummy. "It is a hard name to say though," he added uncertainly.

"Can I call him Polly?" Sofia suggested innocently.

Anya crouched down, looping her arm about Sasha's waist as the puppy snuffled around the toddler's feet. "A little bit of practice is all you need, solnyshka."

Tony chuckled in amusement. After all, Polly was considered a girl's name. "We can name him something else if you like. Do you have any ideas?" he asked, not so set on the name that he wasn't willing to compromise.

Sofia thought hard about it for a long time, plunking down onto her backside to watch as the little puppy attempted to climb Tony for more pets. "Bruno?" she suggested eventually.

"Bruno?" Tony echoed, shifting his position so that the puppy could climb onto his lap, his fingers scritching the puppy's fur. "I don't know. What do you think" Do you like Apollo or Bruno?" he asked the puppy, as if he could actually offer a reply.

"He is Papa's dog," Anya added in a gentle reminder. "We should let him name it, don't you think?"

Sofia nodded solemnly. "I promise I will say Aplopsy properly."

Tony couldn't help but smirk. He knew he was asking for trouble in giving the puppy a name that was almost impossible for the children to pronounce, but once he'd suggested it, it had just seemed to stick. "I'm sure you will, piccolina," he told Sofia. "Apollo it is then!"

"I think our little friend there needs to be fed," Anya pointed out. "And so do we!"

Sofia grinned back at her cheerfully. "Can we pick the pizza, Mama" Me and Sasha?"

"How about Mama and I feed the puppy while you two figure out what kind of pizza you want?" Tony suggested. So long as it wasn't too weird of a combination, he didn't much mind what they picked. "But no anchovies!" he warned.

Sofia nodded happily, taking the menu out of Anya's back pocket and claiming Sasha's hand to walk him back over to the blankets under the canopy and seriously discuss dinner.

Anya chuckled, glancing down as the puppy tripped over his own feet and wriggled on the grass for a moment. "Such authority you have over this household, milaya."

"No more than you," Tony remarked, as they waited for the puppy to find his feet again. "Come on, Apollo. Time for dinner!" he said, whistling softly to get the puppy's attention since he didn't know his own name yet. "Don't tell her I said so, but sometimes I think Sofia runs the household," he added with a grin.


Anthony De Luca

Date: 2020-09-05 14:59 EST
"She thinks she does," Anya agreed with a low laugh, rising up onto her feet as Apollo rolled over onto his paws and started to bound toward Tony once again.

"You're full of surprises today, Anya," Tony said, heading for the house as the puppy bounded along at their heels. "Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

"No, I don't believe so," she assured him, bending to hook the little pup over the lip of the door as they stepped into the house. "I suppose I could try to come up with something if you wanted a hat trick."

Tony chuckled. "The pizza will be my hat trick. Let's just hope they don't want anything too weird on it," he said. "Where did you put the dog food?" he asked, looking around the kitchen for puppy supplies. "By the way, did you know applesauce is dees-gus-ting," he said, doing his best Sofia impression.

"In the cupboard with the cereal," she told him, opening up another of the cupboards to produce the dog bowls and feeding mat. There was a thump from ankle height as Apollo ran full speed into one of the cupboards and bounced backward, crying at the shock.

"That's life according to Sofia," Tony added, crouching down to reassure the puppy. "Hey, are you okay' Gotta watch where you're going, little guy," he said, as he gave the puppy a few reassuring pats.

The little dog needed that reassurance, nuzzling into Tony's hand as he calmed down from his fright. Anya smiled as she set the mat down, sliding a bowl over to the counter under the cereal cupboard.

"He is only twelve weeks old," she told her husband. "He needs a lot of love still."

"And probably a lot of training," Tony pointed out. "Have you ever had a dog before?" he asked. For him, this was a first, but then he'd never had any experience with children before they'd had Sofia either.

"Nyet," was the simple reply. "Papa had the guard dogs, but they were not really family pets, you know" We are all going to learn this together."

"How hard can it be?" he asked, optimistically. After all, if Mataya could juggle a dog in her busy schedule, why couldn't they' "So, have you told anyone the good news yet?" Besides him, that is.

"No, you are the only one I have told," she promised him, measuring out biscuits into the bowl as Apollo nuzzled up to Tony adoringly. "I think Elena may have guessed this afternoon, but she will keep it to herself until we officially tell anyone."

"We should probably tell the kids," he pointed out. Sofia, at least, deserved to know before anyone else did; Sasha was probably still too young to understand.

"We will," Anya promised him, setting the bowl of food down on the mat and tapping it lightly with a fingertip to call Apollo over to eat. "When do you think is best?"

"I don't know," Tony replied, frowning thoughtfully as he took the water bowl to the sink to be filled. "When did we tell her about Sasha?"

"It was a little different," she said, crouching down to make Apollo sit for a moment before he ate. "But we told her we were going to give a baby a new home a long time before we ever went to the agency about adopting."

Tony brought the water bowl over and carefully set it down on the tray in front of their new puppy. "Sasha is too young to understand, but we should tell Sofia," he reasoned aloud. And the sooner the better. "We could wait until Sasha is in bed and tell her then. If she gets to stay up a little later and we give her plenty of cuddles, I think she'll be okay with it," he added.

"Then we will tell her tonight," she agreed. "She can get excited over having another little brother or sister along with Michela."

"You don't think she'll mind?" he asked, uncertainly. Though Sofia seemed to enjoy being a big sister, he wasn't sure what she'd think about having yet another baby brother or sister.

"I think it will not be real to her until there is a bump and pictures to look at," Anya mused, chuckling as Apollo's bowl started wandering around the kitchen as he ate from it.

"Or until there's a baby to show for it," Tony pointed out. "Auditions are next week," he said, taking a lean against the counter as Apollo moved his bowl around the room.

"We had a lot of good dancers audition last year," Anya mused. "Zahan is improving all the time as well, Merethyl says. But I am happy to be a choreographer and teacher. I don't need the applause any longer."

"I could applaud, if you like," Tony teased, as he drew his arms around her waist. "I always thought I'd miss it, but I find my life is busy enough without the stage."

"I think dancing became less important once I realized that I could have you," Anya murmured to him tenderly, brushing a kiss to his chin with a smile.

"It became less important once we had a family," Tony said. Or more accurately, once they started a family. "Every day with you is a gift, Anya," he told her, tilting his head to rest her forehead against hers.

"Perhaps we should find those Mafioso who scared me so much and thank them," she teased, her eyes sparkling impishly. It was dark humor, yes, but enough time had passed that she could joke about that harrowing experience. It felt like another lifetime now.

A dark look crossed Tony's face, if only briefly. He knew she was only teasing, but that had been a difficult time for all of them, and he didn't like to think about it. There were a few good things that had come out of it though, and Anya was one of them. "I have loved you a long time, Anya," he told her.

"And I will love you for a long time to come," she promised in return, squeezing her arms about him. She was about to touch her lips to his in a tender kiss when a startlingly loud gust of wind from Apollo's backside made her jump and laugh.

Tony chuckled close to her lips. He didn't need to look at the puppy to know what was going on there. "How romantic. Puppy farts," he said, stealing that kiss anyway. "I suppose we should go find out what we're having on our pizza."

"I suppose we should," she giggled, drawing back to look down at the puppy, who was starting to look sleepy already. "He is adorable, is he not?" She bent, lifting the little dog to cuddle against her chest.

"Not as adorable as you," he told her, a teasing smirk on his lips as he ruffled the puppy's fur. "He's just a baby," he remarked, seeing how sleepy the puppy seemed already.

"I am told this will not last much longer," she assured him, smiling as he stroked their new pet. "Apparently he has been trained not to be disruptive in the night, but he needs to be with people when we are sleeping."

"You know Sofia is going to want him to sleep with her," Tony pointed out. "Is there a basket somewhere?" he asked, looking around the kitchen for someplace where the puppy could sleep.

"Ah, but Sofia helped me to pick him out," Anya said with a grin. "She knows he is your dog. I made a bargain with her - if she kept the secret, she could play with him and not have to worry about feeding him or taking him out to do his business."

"Does that mean he'll be sleeping with us?" Tony asked. He really was easygoing about most things, including this, it seemed. He didn't know much about taking care of a dog, but how hard could it be?

"Da, milaya, he will," she said with a nod, finally moving to slide her free hand into his as they headed for the back door to discover what atrocity their children had decided upon for dinner. "I will help you. You will not have to be a doggy daddy alone."

"We'll learn together," he agreed, just as they'd learned to be a couple and to be parents. So long as they were together, Tony believed there was nothing they couldn't conquer.

Tucking Apollo onto her shoulder securely with one hand, Anya smiled at her husband fondly. "It will be fun," she predicted, ignoring the inevitability of the less fun parts that also loomed. Ahead of them, Sofia and Sasha were seriously discussing something, the menu totally forgotten.

Tony secretly wondered how many times the puppy would have an accident before he was properly trained to do his business outdoors, but he supposed it wasn't much different than teaching a child, albeit a furry one. "Hmm, just what do you think those two are up to?" he asked, eying Sofia and Sasha as they approached.

"Mischief." That was usually a good bet, compounded when Sofia looked up with an innocently hopeful expression in her big eyes.

"Is Plopsy sleepin'?"

Sasha was really too young to cause much mischief on his own, but the same could not be said for their eldest. "Yes, Plopsy is sleeping. What are you two up to' Did you decide on pizza toppings?" Tony replied, realizing the poor puppy was likely to end up being called Plopsy rather than Apollo.

Anthony De Luca

Date: 2020-09-05 15:01 EST
"Can we has ice cream?" the little girl asked, doing her best to stay looking innocent even as her mouth curved into a cheeky smile.

"Um, didn't you already has ice cream?" Tony countered, eying his daughter steadily. He knew when he was being conned, and though he enjoyed spoiling her, even he had his limits. "Tell you what ....If you both finish your dinner, you can have a few of Aunt Elena's cookies. How about that?"

Sofia's pout was adorable, and so obviously faked that even Sasha giggled at the sight of it. The little girl sighed exaggeratedly. "Okay," she conceded. "But, but, puppyroni and mushblooms and peppers on the pizza?"

Tony rolled his eyes at his daughter's intentional mispronunciations, but couldn't help but chuckle. "Yes, we can have puppyroni, and mushblooms, and peppers on the pizza," conceded, as well. "You drive a hard bargain, missy," he teased, a grin on his face.

She cheered, erupting from the blanket to crawl up into his arms and reward her father with a loud, wet kiss. Anya laughed, easing down onto the blanket herself to get comfortable with Sasha and Apollo.

Tony laughed as he found himself with an armful of Sofia, relieved she wasn't angry with him. He didn't like saying no, but  he sometimes parents had to make unpopular decisions. Thankfully, this one had only been about ice cream. "You are spoiled rotten, you know that?" he asked her, not really expecting an answer. "Both of you," he said, reaching over to ruffle Sasha's curls.

"I'm not rotten!" Sofia protested. "I am sweet and smelling of flowers."

"When you have had a bath, you are," Anya corrected in amusement, raising her phone to her ear to place their order for dinner.

Tony chuckled. "What your mother said," he murmured in total agreement. "So, what do we want to do after dinner?" he asked, looking from one of his children to the other expectantly.

Sofia didn't answer immediately, looking over to Sasha. He was only just one, but he had enough of a grasp of language to put in his vote for a game or a movie if he wanted to.

"No one?" Tony asked, looking from one to the other. He hadn't really been expecting an answer from Sasha, and he was surprised to see Sofia appeared to be waiting on her brother.

"Moooooobee," Sasha finally drawled, drawing the moo out a little longer than necessary. The little boy was only just starting to make words, but that one was pretty easy to decipher.

"Sasha wants a movie," Sofia informed her father with a proud smile. She loved it when her little brother decided to use his words.

"Yes, I gathered that, but thank you, piccolina," Tony said, scooping Sasha up so that he had one child on each side of his lap. "Now, the question is which moobie?"

"Barbie anna Nut Crackler," Sofia immediately responded. It was enough that Sasha had decided they would watch a movie; she wanted dibs on which one. Anya chuckled as she hung up the phone.

Tony almost breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't picked Frozen ....again. "It's a little early for Christmas movies, isn't it?" he asked, though he didn't really mind too much.

"But it's dancin'," she protested. "And the rat's really funny."

Anya bit down on her smile, gently cradling Apollo on her shoulder as she watched Tony navigate this conversation.

"Why don't we watch one of the other Barbie movies and save The Nutcracker for Christmas?" Tony suggested. In his mind, there was just something wrong about watching holiday movies when it wasn't the holidays.

Sofia's lower lip wobbled, but she pulled herself together at the realization that the offer was just to switch from one Barbie movie to another. "Musky ears?" she asked hopefully.

"I think that is a very good choice," Anya said. "The musketeers’ movie is a fun one."

Actually, Tony wouldn't have much cared if they watched the "Nut Crackler" again for the ten millionth time, except that he knew Christmas was coming soon and he didn't want the kids to get too bored with it already. "Musky ears it is, then!" he agreed. "Is that okay with you, Sasha?" he asked the little boy, who nodded his head eagerly with his thumb in his mouth.

"Big decision, then," Anya said, absently removing Sasha's thumb from his mouth with a kiss to his soft hair. "Are we watching it out here, or in the living room?"

Sasha moved to lay his head against his mother's lap, but instead it came to lay against the puppy's fur. "I think we should take advantage of the good weather while we have it, don't you?" Tony replied.

Apollo didn't seem to object to becoming a pillow; the little dog just shifted a little bit to press his muzzle against Sasha's warm head as he drifted back to sleep again. Anya smiled, stroking her fingers against Sasha's hair.

"What do you think, Sofi?" she asked their eldest.

Sofia was beaming, openly delighted that with Sasha cuddling up to Mama, she had Papa all to herself. "Outside," she said cheerfully, hugging Tony a little tighter than was necessary.

Sasha wasn't really sleepy as he'd just work from a nap, but he was clearly enjoying the snuggle from his mama - or rather their new puppy. Tony slid an arm around his daughter, knowing she wouldn't want to cuddle with him forever.

He glanced up at the sky, which was blue and devoid of clouds. "Good thing it doesn't look like rain."

"We have the canopy if it does," Anya mused, "but if it rains, we will get cold."

Sofia giggled, tipping her head back, eyes screwed up just in case she happened to look anywhere near the sun. "Papa, why is the sky blue?"

Tony chuckled at his daughter's question. He was a ballet dancer, not a scientist, but Sofia was at that age when she had far more questions than he had answers to. "I really don't know, piccolina. I think it is really almost black, but the sun makes it look blue."

"How does the sun do that?" Questions, the bane of every parent's life, and also the one thing children never stopped producing. Anya grinned, glad she wasn't on the receiving end this time.

Tony shrugged. He had the patience of a saint where Sofia was concerned, but he didn't know the answer to every question. "Perhaps that is a question for Nonna," he said, passing the buck to his mother. He leaned in, lowering his voice to whisper in her ear, "Nonna knows everything."

The little girl's eyes went wide with amazement. She adored her Nonna, so of course she was going to believe that Rosita De Luca knew everything there was to know. She nodded, a cheeky little smile on her face. "Nonna does, 'cos she told me babies come from cabbages."

"Did she?" Tony replied with a smirk. His mother was probably going to hear about that. "How did she explain that?" he asked, all ears.

"She said that when you want a baby, you plant a special seed made out of love in a cabbage patch and then months and months later, there's a baby under a leaf, and it's your baby," Sofia explained with all the air of a professor giving a lecture.

"Did she?" he asked, clearly amused, but trying hard to keep a straight face. "And where did she say you keep this cabbage?"

Sofia opened her mouth to answer, but frowned, searching her memory for what wasn't there. "She didn't tell me," she said eventually. "I think it's a secret."

"I see," Tony replied, though he didn't add anything to her already skewed knowledge about babies. "Maybe you should ask her," he suggested, whispering again, though his mother wasn't there to hear him.

"But what if it's a secret only mummies and daddies can know?" Sofia objected. "I'm not a mummy, so she won't tell me, and that will make me sad." She offered her father big eyes full of pleading. "So you should tell me, because you love me."

"If it's a secret only mummies and daddies can know ..." Tony trailed off, realizing she had cornered him between a rock and a hard place. There was no easy way to navigate around a child's logic. "How about if I tell you a different secret instead?" he offered.

"Is it a good secret?" she asked hopefully, twisting around until she was practically nose to nose with her father. "'Cos a mummy and daddy secret is a really good secret, and if your secret isn't a good secret, then it's not really the same."

"It is sort of a mummy and daddy secret," Tony replied, glancing briefly at Anya as if to ask permission before he shared the news.

Anya nodded imperceptibly, thoroughly enjoying listening to the battle of wits between father and daughter.

Anthony De Luca

Date: 2020-09-05 15:01 EST
Tony turned back to his daughter, a soft smile on his face. He hoped she wouldn't take the news too badly, but she adored her baby brother, so there was always hope. "What if I told you that we are going to have another baby?"

"Did you plant a special seed?" Sofia asked, doggedly pushing on with her determination to know where the baby seeds were planted. "Can I see where?"

"Yes, but ..." Tony trailed off, looking a little perplexed. "I mean, yes, we planted a special seed, but ..." He glanced at Anya again. How had he gotten himself into this mess" This was a conversation for mothers and daughters.

Anya, watching this, decided to take pity on Tony. "Nonna didn't tell you where the seed is planted because it always goes in a different place for different families," she said gently. "Babies grow from a seed that is planted inside the mama. I am not sure where Nonna got cabbages from."

Sofia frowned thoughtfully, looking at Tony. "Didn't you know that, Papa?"

Tony exhaled a sigh of relief that Anya had stepped in to rescue him. "Yes, I knew that, but some things are hard to explain," he assured his daughter, hoping his answer did not instigate a fresh slew of questions. "Oh, look! The pizza is here!" he declared, relieved again to have been rescued this time by arrival of their pizza.

"Yay!" Distracted by the prospect of food, Sofia scrambled out of Tony's arms and made a beeline for the back door, apparently planning on opening the door and paying for the food all by herself.

Anya grinned at her husband. "Fetch!"

Tony rolled his eyes and chuckled. "She's going to wear me out," he said, as he climbed to his feet. And they having another. What had he been thinking" But if feeling worn out was the price to pay for having a family, he was willing to pay it. "Don't fall asleep, Sasha! Pizza is here!"

"You love running after her," Anya pointed out as Tony moved to catch Sofia before she short-changed the delivery person. Gently nudging Sasha to sit up, she put the puppy in the baby boy's lap, rising herself to grab a few napkins and cups from the kitchen. She'd ordered the entire meal, after all.

Tony made a dash for the house, just in time to catch the delivery boy and give him a tip with a mumbled apology for not getting there sooner. Meanwhile, Sasha beamed, as his mother left him in charge of the puppy, pulling him close for a hug that was close to strangling the poor dog.

"Gently, malyutka!" Anya called from the door as Apollo wriggled in the little boy's grasp. The little puppy didn't mind being hugged, but not so tight he couldn't breathe.

Sasha loosened his grip on the puppy and was rewarded with a sloppy lick, which made the little boy giggle.

"Where's Sasha?" Tony asked, as Anya joined him in the kitchen, a momentary panic before remembering he was with the puppy.

"He is still in the garden, milaya," she assured him, gathering the necessary bits and pieces, as well as the laptop for movie watching. "With Apollo."

Sofia beamed at her parents, proud to be the one trusted to carry the soda bottle all by herself.

"Right," Tony murmured, breathing another sigh of relief. "Careful not to shake the bottle, piccolina!" he reminded his daughter, as he scooped up the box of pizza to carry it out onto the blanket. Puppy or not, he didn't want to leave the little boy out there alone for too long.

"I'm bein' careful!" she insisted cheerfully, and to her credit, she was walking slowly and carefully with her precious cargo. Anya took up the rear to guide Sofia safely out into the garden with the garlic bread and laptop secured in her own hands.

"Here we are!" Tony announced as he arrived at the blanket with the pizza, his stomach growling in anticipation. "Ready for pizza, cucciolo"" he asked, addressing Sasha, not the puppy, even though the pet name technically meant puppy.

Somehow, Sasha knew his father was addressing him and he grinned up at him, nodding his head enthusiastically. "Peeeee-saaaa!"

Sofia wasn't far behind Tony, gently putting the soda bottle down on a cushion before claiming her place sitting next to Sasha as Anya joined them all. Napkins were a must when these two got started on their meal, but Anya let Tony deal with that as she set up the laptop with their movie ready to play when everyone was settled. An outdoor picnic pizza night might seem odd to other people, but it was definitely on brand for these De Lucas.

It was just another day in the lives of this De Luca family, but what a special day it had been. New baby, new puppy, new nieces or nephew in the works - you couldn't say that life was boring in this family. And why would they want it to be? Life was for living, and they were definitely doing that.