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Verity ([info]veritas_amor) wrote in [info]strugglewithin,
@ 2009-01-31 15:07:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:*complete, caleb warrington, october 1997, verity de luca

RP: Trick or Treat....
Date: 31 October 1997
Characters: Verity De Luca, Michaela De Luca (Warrington? :P), Caleb Warrington
Location: Caleb's flat
Status: Private
Summary: Verity takes Mickey trick-or-treating. To her daddy's.
Completion: Complete



They'd been everywhere in their building, it seemed, everyone all too happy to give Mickey tons of candy that she was far too young to eat (but hey, more for Mummy). The little girl was adjusting well to her new home and her new bedroom and neighbors, and Verity was thankful for that, and glad that she lived somewhere that she could take Mick trick-or-treating, even if it was mostly a Muggle thing. She had good neighbors.

But they had one last stop to make, Mickey prancing about in her shiny pink princess costume that Verity had found in her old dress-up trunk at her parents'. Knocking, she gave Michaela a stern look.

"Remember what I said."

"Uhuh. Be good girl. An' no more candy."


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[info]cowarrington
2009-01-31 02:31 pm UTC (link)
It was yet another knock at his front door. Why again hadn't he found a party for this night? He was almost out of his personal stash of candy as it was. Sighing, he opened the door with the last few sad specimens of Honeyduke's finest in a bowl in his hand.

"Verity?" He stared at her for a moment before his gaze went inevitably to the princess at her hip. He blinked at the girl. His girl. His daughter.

He had a sudden urge to sit down, but he fought off the feeling. "Hello."

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-01-31 02:35 pm UTC (link)
"Hey," Verity said, waving a little and feeling utterly stupid. "I um, probably should've owled first. I didn't even know if you were going to be here, but I made this mistake of telling Mickey last night when I was washing her hair- you know, to distract her from moving too much- and she got all antsy and just couldn't wait any longer."

Michaela stared at the tall man. He didn't look like UnCal. But he had candy, and so she wriggled out of her Mummy's grasp and to the floor, giving him her best smile.

"Hi I have a teddy wanna see?"

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[info]cowarrington
2009-01-31 02:42 pm UTC (link)
"Um, yes." It took a real effort to not completely stumble over his words. He wasn't the more articulate bloke to begin with. "Please come in."

He flicked a startled glance to Verity before focusing on Michaela. "Sure. I'd like that." He gravely examined the offered bear. "That is a very fine specimen of a teddy. I have a ferret. Would you like to meet him?"

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-01-31 02:46 pm UTC (link)
Michaela gaped, her little jaw dropping, and Verity had to laugh. "She loves animals. I'm sure she'll like Thief. C'mon, sweetheart, let's go inside so we can close the door."

They did, Verity shutting the door behind them, and she patted Caleb's shoulder reassuringly as she walked past him. She felt a wee bit bad about just throwing him to the wolves, but that was what had happened to her when she'd moved out, so...trial by fire and all that. Why not.

Mickey followed the two of them to the sitting room area, dogging Caleb's footsteps. "I wanna see. Where? Whassa ferret?"

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[info]cowarrington
2009-01-31 03:20 pm UTC (link)
He gave Verity a Look over the top of Michaela's head. This was not a laughing matter. What if he screwed up? He had no idea what he was doing.

Caleb spelled Thief's cage open and lifted his lanky body out. "Here, this is Thief." No using the silly thing's full name around the little one. "You have to be very gentle, but you can hold him if you go sit on the couch."

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-01-31 03:24 pm UTC (link)
Verity watched the two of them interact, feeling a bit...odd. In a good way, though. Seeing Caleb and Michaela together was definitely an interesting experience. The little girl's eyes were as wide as saucers as she observed the long, white ferret, and she immediately ran to sit on the couch, looking up at Caleb expectantly.

"Make sure you're gentle with him, sweetheart. Just like Uncle Callum's cat. No throwing," she added sternly, raising an eyebrow. The kitten had gotten it into its head to nip at Mickey's finger and she'd tossed it clean across the room.

When Caleb handed the creature off to Mick, though, the little girl held it extremely carefully, as though she was afraid it would break.

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[info]cowarrington
2009-01-31 03:50 pm UTC (link)
Thief was behaving for once, sniffing delicately at Michaela's face before searching her for pockets. The little girl seemed to be enchanted.

"Thief's tougher than he looks, but I'd rather not risk him getting upset enough to nip or scratch her." He walked over to stand beside Verity, not quite touching her. "How's living on you own going?"

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-01-31 03:55 pm UTC (link)
"Well enough." She smiled, nudging him with her shoulder. "Hey, I'm sorry for just dropping in on you like this. But she was really excited. I told her all about you last night, to get her to stay still so she wouldn't get shampoo in her eyes."

"I didn't tell her what she should call you, though. Figured we could leave that part up to you?" She tilted her head, looking at him curiously.

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[info]cowarrington
2009-01-31 04:19 pm UTC (link)
Good God. Who was he to make that kind of decision? He knew he should have given into that strange 'Clawish need to go buy every book on kids at Flourish and Blotts.

"I don't mind, Ver. You're welcome whenever." She'd already told Michaela about him?

He had not been aware that his voice could break even in his own head.

"Um... why not just start with Caleb and work from there?" he offered feebly.

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-01-31 05:25 pm UTC (link)
Verity's heart broke a little at that. Not that she'd really been expecting overly much, considering how she'd sprung it on him, but....She sighed. "Yeah. That's fine."

She wanted to exclaim that he was Mick's father, and that wasn't how it worked, and that he couldn't just have half of this and so if he didn't want the rest he needed to tell her now so that Mickey didn't get her heart broken.

But she didn't.

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[info]cowarrington
2009-01-31 05:31 pm UTC (link)
There was something off about her expression. Once he'd been able to read her easily. At least he thought he had.

"Verity," he sighed. "I don't know what I'm doing. I'm going fu... mess up," he amended hastily. "I want to do the right thing for her and you but I don't know what that is."

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-01-31 05:34 pm UTC (link)
Verity laughed, although there was very little humour in it. "You think that I have any idea?" she asked, dragging a hand back through her hair and watching Mickey. "Every day, you have to figure it out all over again. Every single day, you analyze it and agonize over if what you're doing is the right choice, even down to the smallest details."

Her voice softened, and she smiled. "But it's completely worth it. I promise you, the first time you hear her call you Daddy you'll know what I mean. But that's completely up to you, Cale."

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[info]cowarrington
2009-01-31 05:58 pm UTC (link)
He drew a line down her cheek with one gentle finger. "I'll take your word for it, Ver. Just so that you're well warned that I'm likely to do or say something that'll make her cry and then you'll hex me." His eyes went back to the little girl playing with his devil of a rodent. "She can call me d-d-daddy if you think that's appropriate."

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-01-31 06:01 pm UTC (link)
His finger on her cheek made her shiver, but she tried not to let it show.

"It's what you are. If you want to be. Which, so far, it seems like you're having a hard time making up your mind about. I know that I just foisted all of this onto you without any warning, but I can't really think of a better way to have done it, other than having you know from the beginning."

Verity started to say something else but was interrupted when Mickey shrieked. Loudly.

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[info]cowarrington
2009-01-31 06:18 pm UTC (link)
"I do want that," he protested. "I just... It's just..."

When Michaela screamed, he jumped nearly out of his skin. Drawing his wand automatically, he came damned close to stunning her.

"Shite," he hissed.

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-01-31 06:26 pm UTC (link)
When Mickey screamed Verity immediately sprang up from the couch, scrambling to get to her. She was crying and whimpering and holding out her finger, and Thief was on the couch next to her. Upon further inspection Verity saw that the ferret had barely even nipped at Michaela's finger, but Verity still gathered the little girl in her lap, kissing the tip of the injured finger and rocking her back and forth, making soothing shushing noises.

When she looked back over at Caleb at his exclamation, her eyes widened to see that he had his wand out.

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[info]cowarrington
2009-01-31 06:42 pm UTC (link)
At her look, he hurriedly put his wand away. "Sorry. Um, candy?" he said, putting the bowl down by them.

He picked up the ferret who looked frankly confused by the whole thing. "Thief didn't mean to scare you, princess. That's just how he plays."

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-01-31 06:59 pm UTC (link)
Michaela nodded, keeping her face sad and pouty. "Candy pwease. Want chocwate." She peered over at the ferret over her mummy's shoulder, clearly trying to decide if it was evil or not. Verity kissed the top of her head.

"Say thank you," she prompted.

"Thank you," Michaela parroted, and then beamed at Caleb. "I am a pwincess."

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[info]cowarrington
2009-01-31 07:09 pm UTC (link)
He grinned back at her without even realizing it. "Yes, you are."

Thief was squirming to be let down, so Caleb set him on the back of the couch. The rodent made his arch-backed scurrying way along the top, chittering as he went back and forth. "Thief is sorry for nipping you." He pulled a bell-ball from his pocket and handed it her. "Why don't you throw this for him?"

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-01-31 07:50 pm UTC (link)
"Oooh!"

And that was all it took. Michaela scrambled out of her mother's arms, taking the ball from Caleb and tossing it as far as her little arms could. Verity smiled, watching her, and then stood and moved to sit beside Caleb.

"You two have the same smile. I didn't notice it until I saw you smile at her just now."

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[info]cowarrington
2009-01-31 07:55 pm UTC (link)
Caleb relaxed when Michaela's tears vanished entirely. He put his arm across the back of the couch, and only co-incindentally behind Verity. His eyes were on their daughter as was most of his attention.

"Really? I just see you in her. Which is good as a little girl that looked like me would not be nearly as cute," he said absently.

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-01-31 08:02 pm UTC (link)
"Are you kidding? I think she looks just as much like you as she does me. And I have to admit, I might be biased, but we made one damn good looking child," she informed him seriously, leaning over to kiss his cheek and settling into the curve of his arm.

She watched him watching Michaela, and relaxed. Finally.

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[info]cowarrington
2009-01-31 08:18 pm UTC (link)
"We did." Even if it was unintentional. Even if one day soon he'd have to truly acknowledge her and wouldn't that kick over an ant hill. He brushed a kiss onto her temple. "We did indeed."

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-01-31 08:21 pm UTC (link)
Curling into his side, she yawned. "Merlin, I'm beat. D'you know how many people there are in my building willing to give out candy to an adorable little trick-or-treating princess? And do you have any idea how much candy she's had? She's going to be up all bloody night. Mummy's not going to get any sleep."

She tucked her legs up beneath her on the couch, letting her eyes flutter shut. Just for a moment. No longer than a minute or so.

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[info]cowarrington
2009-01-31 08:43 pm UTC (link)
Caleb pulled her closer, smiling to himself as she fell asleep. Michaela and Thief bounced back and forth across the little amount of open space in the flat. This wasn't what he'd intended to be doing at this point in his life, but hell, it didn't look so bad from here.

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-01-31 08:45 pm UTC (link)
Hmm. Michaela was tired of the silly ferret. She yawned big, turning around to look over at Mummy and pouting when she saw that her Mummy was asleep. Hmph.

Tiptoeing carefully over to the couch, she climbed up beside the nice man that was her Daddy and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Psssst," she said in a whisper. "Is Mummy sweepin'?"

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[info]cowarrington
2009-01-31 09:23 pm UTC (link)
His lip twitched. Michaela's whisper wasn't very whispery.

"Yes, she is. Let's not wake her, hmm?" He patted the space beside him. "Why don't you sit here by me?"

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-01-31 09:26 pm UTC (link)
"Okie." He looked snuggly and Michaela liked snuggling with her mummy, so maybe she would like snuggling with her daddy too. Instead of sitting beside him, though, she climbed into his lap, her little arms going around his neck.

"You're nice. Mummy says you're my Daddy."

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[info]cowarrington
2009-01-31 09:34 pm UTC (link)
Okay. Verity sleeping on his shoulder and Michaela in his lap. He could do this. Without freaking out or fainting.

"Thanks," he said softly. "Yeah, I am. Your daddy, that is." With her this close, she did look quite a bit like his twin sisters when they were that age.

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-01-31 09:38 pm UTC (link)
Michaela looked at him, tilting her head to the side. "Okie. Good. I like you, Daddy." She nodded very seriously. And then kissed his cheek.

"Sweepy now." Cuddling into him more, she rested her little cheek on his chest and closed her eyes.

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[info]cowarrington
2009-01-31 09:57 pm UTC (link)
Well, one day his heart may unmelt.

So much for the stone cold Hit Wizard persona.

Carefully, he wrapped his free arm around the tiny girl. There was no way that he was going to get any sleep like this, but he was happy to watch over their slumber.

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-01-31 10:02 pm UTC (link)
Several hours later, Verity guessed, she woke up, blinking. It was dark, moonlight streaming in through the windows, and she had the most awful kink in her neck. Sitting up a bit, she realized that she'd been sleeping on Caleb's shoulder and smiled. She couldn't tell if he was asleep or not, but Mickey was sound asleep in his lap, snoring softly, and his arm was around her.

Leaning up, Verity kissed his cheek.

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[info]cowarrington
2009-01-31 10:16 pm UTC (link)
He had never really gone to sleep so when Verity stirred he slowly opened his eyes. "Hey," he said softly, "feeling better?" He was stiff from not moving. It was difficult not to disturb three sleepers. Thief had joined them soon after Michaela had climbed into his lap and was completely, limply asleep still.

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-01-31 10:19 pm UTC (link)
"Mm, yes. Thanks for letting me get some rest, I needed it. Want me to get her? I've slept with her like that and I know it's not very comfortable, she's basically dead weight."

It was so cute, seeing him cradle their daughter like that, though, and Mickey was always quite adorable when she was sleeping. Reaching up with one hand, she rubbed the back of her neck briefly and then suddenly smiled, inspired.

Turning the way she was sitting, she started rubbing his shoulders and neck. "Better?"

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[info]cowarrington
2009-01-31 10:27 pm UTC (link)
"She's fine. I didn't think you'd want to wake her yet. She might get a second wind then and I don't think Thief's up for it."

He groaned, his head dropping foreward automatically when she began massaging his sore neck. "Much. That's so good, Ver."

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-01-31 10:33 pm UTC (link)
"Don't, then. As long as she's asleep, she's fine, and if we can keep her that way till I get her home and in bed, even better."

She continued her ministrations on his neck, kneading harder where she felt knots. "Merlin. I didn't realize we stressed you out this much," she teased, grinning at him. The husky tone of his voice had an interesting effect on her, though, one that was entirely inappropriate when their daughter was in his lap, and she cleared her throat, focusing on the task at hand.

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[info]cowarrington
2009-01-31 10:54 pm UTC (link)
"Life stresses me out. I'll be glad when training is over and I'll just have to worry about criminals rather than tests." He reached back and grabbed her hand before her touch on his skin invoked something that would not be a good thing to contemplate with a lap full of a toddler.

"You can stay here tonight, if you want. You and Michaela can have my bed and I'll stay out here."

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-01-31 10:58 pm UTC (link)
"Aw, you poor lad. Buck up, you're going to be utterly brilliant at your job." She started slightly when he grabbed her hand, but managed to twist his grip so that she could lace her fingers through his.

"That's sweet, and I might actually have to take you up on that. It'll be easier to keep her asleep that way. But you don't have to give up your bed, Caleb. I'm sure all three of us can fit, and that way you don't have to sleep on this couch. No sense messing up your neck when I've just gotten all the kinks out."

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[info]cowarrington
2009-01-31 11:07 pm UTC (link)
He blinked up at her. That was not an option he'd concidered, really. "If you're sure, Ver, then that would work." He slid Thief carefully out of Michaela's lap and onto the couch. "If you'll go turn the bed down, I'll carry her highness in there. Um, you can raid my drawers for clothes. Maybe a tee shirt for this one?"

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-01-31 11:17 pm UTC (link)
She grinned, standing and steadying herself when she wobbled a bit. "Yeah, that sounds good." She went ahead of him to turn down the covers on the bed, kicking her shoes off into a corner and rummaging in his drawers for two teeshirts.

"Got the smallest one I saw for her, but she's still going to utterly swim in it." As he held Mickey, she tugged the little girl's Halloween costume off and set it to the side, slipping Caleb's teeshirt over her little head. Mick fussed a little, but settled right back down.

"Um, I figure you won't care," she said, with a little smile, gesturing to the shirt and meaning she was just going to change right there. "Since you've obviously seen it before and all."

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[info]cowarrington
2009-02-01 10:24 am UTC (link)
Caleb carefully lay Michaela down in the center of his bed. It was a good thing that he'd always liked a big bed or they'd be falling off the edges.

"Mind? No," he said, looking back at Verity with the beginnings of a smile turning up the corner of his mouth. "Care? Well, that's a different prospect." He pulled his own pajama bottoms from underneath his pillow before calmly stripping out of his own clothes.

He was definitely going to have to look into getting a two bedroom flat if there was any chance of this becoming a common thing. As much this unexpected domesticity was growing on him, he was still not quite twenty years old. He'd very much like to have Verity in his bed on a regular basis without their daughter sharing the space.

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-02-01 10:28 am UTC (link)
Well, since he was being all calm about it, she hardly felt bad that she was wearing some of her nicest knickers. Or that she took her bra off, because those things were damned uncomfortable to sleep in. Oh, and his shirt smelled good as she pulled it over her head, climbing into the bed beside Michaela.

"I'd ask just how different, but I feel like maybe that conversation should wait for another time," she teased. "You don't have a specific side of the bed, do you? Hope it's not this one, because I'm quite comfortable already."

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[info]cowarrington
2009-02-01 10:58 am UTC (link)
He didn't bother to keep his appreciation of her body out of his eyes as he watched her change. There was no use hiding what she doubtlessly knew; he had long thought that she was one of the hottest witches of his acquaintance.

"You're fine where you are. I'm not picky." Caleb waited until she was settled before spelling the lights down and climbing into bed. Michaela muttered and shifted a bit, but never really woke up.

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[info]veritas_amor
2009-02-01 04:21 pm UTC (link)
Curling up beneath the blankets, she smiled over at him as the spelled down the lights. Mickey was already murmuring and Verity moved so that she could listen, in case her daughter said something particularly amusing.

"She talks in her sleep," she explained. "Not all the time, but sometimes it's quite hilarious." Reaching over, she brushed some of Michaela's hair out of her face.

"Good night, Caleb. Thanks for letting us stay."

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[info]cowarrington
2009-02-01 04:39 pm UTC (link)
"Any time, Ver, any time."

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