Who: Severus and Romana When: Week after Easter Where: Their home What: Eating Easter Candy Rating/Warning: Low/None Status: Complete when posted
Severus had gone out and purchased an entire cart full of Easter Candy on clearance at the local drugstore. It was probably a bad idea, considering he had a toddler and a very pregnant wife at home, but he couldn’t help it. Over the years of feeding Daisy a little junk food now and again, Severus had developed a sweet tooth, and he knew that his family wouldn’t admonish him too much for his frivolity. Besides, Romana definitely deserved a little sugary love.
He headed home, carrying two large shopping bags, and kicked the front door closed behind himself. “Ro? Daisy?”
On the couch, Romana was stretched out with the television on. She was watching a lot of it, now that she was generally on the couch all of the time. She wasn’t completely restricted to bed rest, but the doctor said that it was a good idea. Besides the television and netflix wasn’t too bad. Daisy was on the couch next to her, playing with her dolls and half watching the thing that was on tv. Some cartoon.
“In the living room,” she called out. “Good lord, what on earth did you buy?”
“Easter sales.” Severus said by way of explanation. he moved to the closet and shoved the bags in, hoping that Daisy wouldn’t catch sight of them and ask more questions. It would be best to sort through it all when she was napping. “What are you watching?”
Romana couldn’t help but laugh and shake her head. Daisy’s head lifted up, like she was sure they were not talking about her on purpose. Then a moment later, she went back to playing with her dolls. Crisis averted. “We’re watching Dora the Explorer. I hope you know where to put them. You know. A good hiding place.” Because clearly as soon as their backs were turned, Daisy would be trying to find it.
“Yes.” Sev’s plan was to hide them in the closet for now, and then go back and get them to re-hide them while Daisy was sleeping. They could keep a stash in the kitchen, obviously, then put the rest up in a closet somewhere.
He closed the door and moved further into the house. “Ah, Hola, Dora.” He said. “Swiper, no swiping.”
Daisy thought that was hilarious, and burst into a fit of giggles.
They were so awful, getting candy and not sharing with their daughter. Though Romana was definitely for it. She could wait until Daisy was asleep to indulge in candy. Goodness knows that she was craving the sugar pretty badly. It amused her to have a secret stash of candy. He was a very smart husband.
Romana too found it kind of amusing, and so she started to laugh along Daisy. She shook her head a little. “Welcome home. Dinner is in the fridge, though it needs to be put in the oven, if you would be so kind.”
They’d definitely share with Daisy, though Severus didn’t want her to get obsessed with the candy when she saw how much there was. In any case, it would be good to deal with later.
“Oh, of course. You didn’t need to cook.” He said, and moved into the kitchen to pull out dinner and slip it into the oven. “I could have done that!” He called from the kitchen.
Oh so they’d have to go and eat most of it and then share with her. Just so she wouldn’t get into it. Very smart planning. Not that Romana was complaining about eating a lot of candy.
“I know, but I’ve been watching cartoons all day and pretty much lying here and doing work at home with the computer. I needed to get up and do something.”
“Well, all right.” Severus said. “I’m sure I could come up with other things for you to do, Love,” he added, playfully. “We’ll just need to put Daisy down to bed before we do some of them.” He gave her a wink as he came back into the living room, wiping his hands on a cloth. “Can I get you something to drink?”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “Well I’m already coloring, but if you can think of other things that don’t include knitting, I’m all ears.” With a smirk and a shake of her head, she leaned over and gave him a playful swat. “I’m definitely all for those types of ideas. I think I’ll have some iced tea, if we have any? I know.. blasphemy. But I have a craving.”
“We will always give in to your cravings,” Severus said, then turned to jog back into the kitchen. “Even if they’re blasphemous.” And he set about putting together some iced tea for her. It was easy with a swish of his wand. He came back out in a couple of moments, and set the tea down on the table next to the sofa so she could reach. Then he flopped down beside her feet and pulled them into his lap so he could massage them. Sev was going for the ‘best husband ever’ award today.
Romana promptly stuck her tongue out at him as he walked back into the kitchen. Hmph. Iced tea wasn’t that blasphemous. They were living in America after all. It couldn’t be that bad. Everyone else drank it. She took the iced tea and and took a sip. “Not bad for someone who protested,” she pointed out. Quite happily she put her feet in his lap. “Thank you.”
Severus chuckled. “Just because it blasphemous, doesn’t mean I can’t make one.” He said, and let his thumbs dig gently into the pads of her feet. He was fairly good at this foot massage thing. Really, he just loved touching his wife.
When the episode of Dora ended, he drew his wand. “How about we turn off the telly for a bit, hmm?” It was nearing dinnertime, anyway.
She hmph’d slightly, and shook her head. “It’s good and I didn’t want anything warm.” So he could just.. suck it. Or whatever the kids were saying these days. Though she did really like the foot rub. She liked it a lot. She was trying not to make noise when Daisy was right there.
“Sounds good. Though.. you get to deal with the kid..” she teased lightly.
Severus knew better than to argue with his wife. He could have offered alternatives to iced tea, ones that were cold and thirst quenching, but he decided against it. A happy wife is a happy life.
“I think I can handle that.” Severus responded. He flicked his wand and turned off the television.
Daisy continued to color for a few seconds before she realized the tv was off. She turned to look at her parents. “Daddy! Play with me!”
It was just her luck that Daisy hadn’t noticed and hadn’t pitched a fit, like Romana had hoped she might do. If only so that she could look at Severus with a smug look on her face. She let Severus keep rubbing her feet and then nodded for him to go ahead. “You get to keep her entertained as well.” She liked to watch them play anyway.
Severus nodded. “Let’s do some puzzles.” He said, releasing Romana’s feet so he could move to the cupboard under the telly and pull out some of the puzzles they had stashed under there.
Daisy was more than willing to abandon her crayons (all over the floor) and join Daddy at the coffee table to slowly piece together the faces of Sophia the First, Dora the Explorer and My Little Ponies.
With a soft sigh, Romana swung her feet over the edge and then reached down with her toes in order to pick up some crayons. It was only grabbing one and then raising it up that Romana saw the problem.
“I think I’m going to need a broom and one of those grabber things. I can’t really touch the floor anymore. Or bend over. Mind you clean up both messes after you’re done, young lady.”
“Yes, that’s right. Daisy, it’s clean up time. Before we do these puzzles.” Severus said, putting the box top back on the box.
Daisy whined “I don’t wanna,” and Severus was a little afraid they were going to have a meltdown.
“Come now. I’ll help you.” He drew his wand from his pocket and flicked it, making the crayons all stand on end. “Catch them if you can!” He added, and swirled his wand once to make the crayons dance around.
Thank goodness he made cleaning up fun. If it was just her with Daisy, the poor kid would have definitely thrown a tantrum. Romana didn’t mind though she figured that eventually Daisy was going to have to learn that not everything came as a fun game. It was a fine line. Right now she was just glad she didn’t have to pick up crayons off the floor.
“Thank you both.”
Severus wanted to be a better parent than he’d had both in this world and in the Dreams. His father would have whipped him, his mother would have sat back and watched. He was bound and determined to teach Daisy respect and responsibility, without the fear and anger that he had attached.
The oven dinged. “I should probably go check on that,” Severus said. While Daisy finished cleaning up the crayons, he climbed up from the floor to head into the kitchen and make sure the casserole wasn’t burnt.
Romana definitely understood the want to be better parents than her own. Her own parents hadn’t been very good. She wasn’t beaten or anything, but they were quite neglectful. Oddly enough she thought of them as more Time Lord-ish than she was. That ancient race could be awful and cold to everyone around them.
She nodded and watched him go. When Daisy was done picking up the crayons, Romana smiled at her and took the box. “Thank you dear. You should go wash up for dinner.”
Daisy jumped up from her spot, setting the last of the crayons away, then rushed off toward the bathroom where she had a step stool leading up to the sink. She was becoming very, very independant, and could wash her hands all on her own now.
Severus pulled the casserole out of the oven and set it on the stovetop to sit for a couple of minutes before dinner. Then he tossed a quick salad, and brought plates out to the dining room table.
Going after her daughter, Romana washed up her own hands and then sat down at the table so that they could eat. “I hope it’s good. I’m not as good of a cook as you, dear.”
Daisy wasn’t in a high chair anymore--that was in storage in the garage--but a booster seat. She felt like such a big girl when she climbed in it and drank her milk out of a big girl cup. She picked up her fork, made a face, and started poking at the food on her plate.
“I’m sure it’s lovely.” Severus said. He settled down and started in on his own food. He was hungry.
If they all ended up with food poisoning then Severus was definitely going to be the one that was cooking from now on. “I’m watching your face to see how it tastes,” she teased lightly as she took a bite. Well it wasn’t amazing, but it was okay. Good enough to eat. Edible even. It was kind of amazing. She didn’t do a lot of cooking. Especially now.
“I admit to have a bit of a craving for cheesy pasta.”
Good enough to eat, for sure. Severus enjoyed a meal that was palatable and he didn’t have to cook. Honestly, if she’d made him dirt salad with worm dressing he’d eat it. Because it came from her. “You really can’t go wrong with cheese and pasta. Isn’t that right, Daisy?”
Daisy had a piece of pasta in her mouth and couldn’t reply.
That would be very sweet of him, but hopefully she wouldn’t ever make them dirt salad. Besides Romana didn’t even know how to make that. She just didn’t want to accidentally give anyone food poisoning. She laughed a little and shook her head.
“I think that speaks for itself. Well thank you. I’m glad I can cook at least one thing.”
It was hard to mess up things like pasta and cheese. Chicken was another story. And pork. Those things were rather easy to miscook. But this was a delicious dinner. Severus had absolute faith in his wife’s culinary talents.
“Soon we’re going to have another family member sitting with us at dinnertime.” He said, mostly to Daisy.
Romana was okay with letting him cook things like that. Not to mention he could probably wave his wand and make sure that nothing was undercooked. That had to be handy. She would stick to pasta and things that couldn’t kill you.
“Are you ready to be a big sister?”
Severus loved cooking in both the muggle and magical way. So he was okay with being the chef of the house.
“Yes!” Daisy said, through a mouthful. She chewed and swallowed. “I want to change diapers and give bottles and play with my little brother.”
“Well if you want to change diapers, maybe we should put you on diaper changing duty.” Though she did say that magic might come in handy with that as well. “You’re going to be a brilliant big sister.” She was sure of that.
“It won’t be much longer, that’s for certain.”
Magic would make a lot of those household chores go by much more smoothly. Severus was very, very handy to have around the house. “I, for one, can’t wait to meet him.”
Daisy bounced up and down in her chair. “Me, too! Me, too!” Then she grabbed her bread and started to devour it in fast, tiny nibbles, like a rabbit.
“Neither can I. Though really, I’m torn between that and wanting to not go through the things I have to in order for him to be here.” And the fact that they were never going to get sleep again.
Romana grinned and started to eat. “He’s kicking up a storm at the moment.”
Severus paused for a moment. “I can give you some potions that will help with labor and delivery.” He said. “Pain killers, muscle relaxants, strengthening solution… that sort of thing.” He wasn’t a Healer himself, but he’d made enough potions for the Healers at St. Mungo’s that he could likely give her things to assist in the birth of their child.
“All right, I trust you to give me what I need.” Because there was no way she was doing this without pain killers. Romana was not that strong. Even if she had two heartbeats and if something happened, she would regenerate. “Thank you dear.”
“You’re welcome.” Severus lifted his glass to clink against hers, and Daisy jumped right in with her milk cup. “Cheers.”