aaron turpin's call sign can be taken many ways (aforawesome) wrote in find_horcruxes, @ 2010-05-05 21:05:00 |
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Melanie had gotten very good at gauging when Lisa was going to start fussing. Even if she was asleep in her little nest of blankets and pillows in front of the baby's crib, she would wake up with a start once the breathing above her changed or when she heard the sniffling and she was up and on her feet within seconds to scoop her up. Usually by then, Lisa had started to hiccup just a little bit, as though she was working her way up toward actually crying, but once her aunt's familiar arms were around her and her voice began to coo and assure it that everything was fine, just fine -- she would calm herself and start to fade back to sleep. This time, though, it had taken just a bit more coaxing to get the little girl to calm down. Melanie bounced her a few times, hummed "Bookends" by Simon and Garfunkel over and over, and began to pace the nursery. Her niece's little fists curled in her hair, hanging on for dear life, or so it seemed. It was enough to make Melanie smile, especially once the little girl's head slumped onto her shoulder. Melanie had learned with Emma, though, that she had to wait a short while before putting her back into her crib. There was a very good chance that she would wake back up at the change of position, so she strolled slowly over to the window and stared out with a little sigh before returning to her quiet humming. Everything was a mess, but sometimes it felt like it would be okay. Like when she was holding her sweet baby niece. Personal leaves from work meant that for the most part, Aaron was spending his days at his wife's side. And when he wasn't he was... well, wandering around a little lost, wondering what else to do. When he heard Lisa start fussing, he almost felt relieved because that would mean turning his thoughts to something that wasn't on the war and how many people were dying all around them everyday. But she'd already been taken care of, Aaron saw as he walked into the room. And he couldn't help the slight twitch of his lips into a small smile. He approached quietly, held tilted one way to see if the baby really was completely out. "Everything's okay?" he asked in a gentle whisper. Melanie very nearly jumped when Aaron spoke, but having Lisa in her arms tempered that. She knew that that sort of jerk would absolutely wake the girl up, so instead she just looked at her brother's reflection in the window and smiled just a bit. Part of her knew that she should have been paying attention, shouldn't have let her guard down, and all sorts of other lessons from day one of training, but a bigger part of her shook it off. Mr. Podmore didn't have to know. "Mmhm," was Melanie's eventual reply as she turned slowly, one of her hands gently rubbing the girl's back as she looked at her brother. Her voice was quiet as she continued and her face turned concerned. "All's well. How're you doing?" Aaron reached over, brushing one finger over the little girl's ear, pushing a very thin tendril of hair back. She flinched slightly in her sleep and he moved his hand away quickly, intent on keeping her asleep. "Okay. I guess," he said a little absent-mindedly. And then he blinked and looked back at his sister. "Thanks for this. I really really appreciate it. I don't know how I would have been able to handle the girls on top of helping Elinor hold on." "It's not a problem," Melanie replied back quietly, looking up at her brother and managing a little smile. "Really, I don't mind." As far as she was concerned, it was truly the least that she could do for them. It was more than the two of them being her family and she wanted to help them in their time of need. But, being apart of the DMLE and being someone who wasn't attacked had never sat well with her. She knew that there was nothing that could have been done on her part, especially since she wasn't even an Auror. But, still, there was a little bit of survivor's guilt hanging on. "It's all sorts of maddening," Aaron started, turning around and heading for the armchair in the room. "I don't know... I don't know what to say to her." He sat down, and while he had been planning on speaking to Melanie, it felt like words were just starting to come out of him as if he decided to rant to himself. "There really isn't much to say but this is just where we've ended up. In the middle of a war over something so stupid, and it's basically like we're all just sitting here and twiddling thumbs, waiting for the next person or persons to die and find out about it in the paper." He frowned, bringing a hand up to one side of his head and rubbing it. A headache was starting to come on. Melanie paused before responding to her brother, her head tipping to the side to glance at Lisa's sleeping face and deciding that she was out enough that she could chance setting her back in her crib. She was careful, as always, and rather tentative - even stopping to hover to make sure that the scrunch of the baby girl's face was just due to her getting comfortable and not because she was about to let out a wail of some sort. Once satisfied, Melanie turned to look at her brother with an uncharacteristically emotionless expression. As she approached the armchair that Aaron was sitting in, she started speaking softly, "I know. It's really... I don't know, it just sucks." Melanie sat on the arm, facing her brother and letting out a sigh. Being in the DMLE didn't even bring any reprieve to what it was he was complaining about. "I wish that there were more ways to take initiative, but there's really not. It's hard." Aaron glanced up at her and gave her a smile, despite the sadness to their conversation. "Jellybean, I am confident that your department is trying the best they can. And so are you." He leaned over and placed his forehead against her lap, trying to get himself to just relax, so at least the headache would ease away. That was definitely going to take a while. |