Who: Lydia and Theo What: Kids show up When: August 13 Where: Their house Rating: low
Waking up with Ansley tugging on her arm had been different this time around. The ‘nursery’ that was now mostly dismantled actually lingered in Lydia’s head more than she expected and Ansley showing up for a second time seemed to tell Lydia that maybe Ansley wasn’t just ‘some other reality’ thing. At least they had a ‘child appropriate’ room now that they used some blow up mattresses on for the kids.
Of course, a lot of those feelings had come throughout the day since the morning had been a lot to process with Theo’s brood of children.
And then there was Brett. Lydia knew it was ‘a Dome thing’, but having a child with Liam of all people felt entirely strange. The idea of sleeping with Liam, even, was one that Lydia had never and would never entertain.
Her only other child this time was with Elijah of all people. Emma was a vampire which was also new and she was still trying to come to terms with the idea she had a child who needed to drink blood to survive.
Lydia came into her and Theo’s bedroom after checking in on Brett a third time that night. He was having nightmares because apparently the 13 year old not only was going through werewolf puberty, but also inherited his mother’s gifts. Lydia hadn’t even known a male could be a banshee.
She exhaled as she closed the door. “Brett keeps waking everyone else up. This is going to be a long however-many-days they’re here.” She looked at Theo and in her eyes, she held guilt there.
–
Being woken by Ansley had been both a blessing, and a warning as to what Theo’s day was going to consist of, or the next week.. He’d ended up downstairs corralling three of the four boys that had been his last time, and running into the other kids that had come with his housemates. He was okay with the fact that he didn’t have a kid with Scott show up this time, because the others were more than enough, and more so with Brett showing up as well.
At least the girls were easy to handle. And almost as easy to distract as the boys.
He was sitting up in bed when Lydia came back, and pulled the blanket back for her. “It’s not your fault. Any of it. Tomorrow, we’ll check in with a few people and see if someone can come up with a charm or ward or something that will help him sleep. And we can make sure the boys are set to their moms for the night.”
Because he definitely wasn’t keeping them the entire time.
“And we can set Brett up in the safe room. That way if he can’t sleep, he’s got the game systems and movies to keep him occupied.”
–
She crawled in beside him and then pressed a kiss against his lips after he spoke. She could always trust Theo to make things sound more manageable. They probably had it a lot ‘easier’ here with all the magic and resources at their disposable too. On her end, she had been glad that it seemed as if Stiles and her kid didn’t show up again. That had been hard on everyone last time.
Lydia settled in against the headrest, though still close to Theo. She looked out in front of them for a moment silently, before she gave a little sigh. She was frustrated with her own thoughts. “Do you think I’ve doomed Ansley to the same fate as Brett? Or anyone I give birth to?” Not one to dwell, she pushed onto a more proactive thought. “Maybe there’s some sort of… banshee dna blocker we can pinpoint and stop it or something.”
–
Theo was quiet after she spoke, trying to figure out how to give advice on this, because it was definitely a touchy subject. For so many reasons.
“I don’t think you’ve doomed any of them. Everyone has different levels to how their abilities come in. Look at Scott compared to Liam or Derek. Or even music or intelligence in normals.” Genetics were a bitch sometimes, and he didn’t think they had it figured out even in this new century.
“Maybe not a full dna blocker, but something that can suppress it until they can be trained how to handle it? Let it come out a little bit at a time, at least until they can decide on their own if they want to keep it.”
_
Decide if they want to keep it. She knew that was the right way to go even if Lydia couldn’t think of many reasons why being around death all the time was something you’d choose. Still, it should be a choice. Otherwise she wasn’t any better than the Dread Doctors. Suppression it was then, nothing permanent. Not that they would have to worry about the other children for a while.She wondered if it would affect Elijah’s child the same way.
“I can’t believe I can basically fill out a supernatural bingo card with all the kids who showed up. I’m trying to picture having breastfed a baby vampire and I’m not even sure what that looks like.” She wondered if Elijah would even know. She’d be bringing that up simply out of curiosity. “And as much as I know Hope is sad about it, I’m glad Klaus was off the table for this, though I’m surprised the Dome didn’t send one for Kol and I.” Especially since it had done a number on them when they were nobles in medieval times.
She turned her body so she was on her side and facing Theo. Lydia studied his ridiculously handsome face for a moment before speaking again. “You’re cute with them, you know.”
–
He knew there had to be a weird look on his face while he imagined a baby vampire, and shook his head. “Maybe it was fine until the teeth came in?” Really, it was probably like baby werewolves. Everything was cool until the teeth and claws showed up.
“Kids are easy to handle. They just want safety and love. I can offer them that, at least for the time they’re here.” And someone to vent too for certain teens.
He turned off the lamp beside the bed and then turned to stretch out facing Lydia. “You know, I can handle Brett the next few times he wakes up. And maybe take him for a run tomorrow before bed to wear him out.”
_
In the dark, Lydia smiled warmly. “And there you go being incredibly hot.” Sure, he would also be great to look at, but what Lydia had come to really love about Theo was how thoughtful and observant he was. She leaned in to kiss him softly, then pulled away. “We should probably go back to bed before I get other ideas and we’re both completely sleep deprived tomorrow.”
–
“Sleep deprived isn’t the problem, it’s being interrupted by one of the kids,” Theo muttered and he settled in. Because he had gone to work sleep deprived many times in the past. He had no wish to deal with the sex questions though.