InsaneJournal

If the last few days had shown Sabrina anything, it was two things. One, her and Nick would eventually make a really cute, smart kid. And two, she was nowhere near ready to have a kid. The apartment was too small, their schedules didn’t mesh well at all with having a five year old around. She didn’t know how to cook enough dishes yet--especially not kid friendly ones. Bathtimes were a foreign concept where she was pretty sure Ripley was going to end up slipping on the water that somehow spilled out of the bath everywhere. It was even wetter than when she used to bathe the three hellpups at once.

And slipperier because of all the soap bubbles with the bubble gum scented bubble bath that was supposed to be hypoallergenic and good for kids. Which was another thing--all of the little terms that she had no idea about or why they were apparently better than the product that was right next to something that looked exactly the same. The clothes were cute until there were five different outfits gone through in one day for one reason or another.

Also legos were evil.

Sabrina had known that already, but there was something especially painful about stepping on a pink lego in the middle of the night on the way to the bathroom.

The chaos of it all was worth it as she sat down on carpet in the living room, Candyland set up on the coffee table. She placed the bucket of popcorn down next to it, shifting back a little so Ripley could sit down in her lap.

“I’m the red one and you’re the blue one and daddy gets to be yellow.”

"So where's the candy?" Nick asked, confused as to how the game could be called Candyland without actual candy being involved.

"You always say that," Ripley giggled, beaming at her father. Which was still very odd, but Nick grinned in return. "Oh do I? And do I always go and get candy to play for?" He had no idea of the rules of the game, but surely they could work some candy in there somehow.

"Yes," the five year old said, happily.

Sure, it was really freakin' weird to suddenly have a little girl show up and declare herself his and Sabrina's kid, but there was no denying that she was theirs. And since this was happening all over Vallo, it just became one of those things.

The timing was off, but Nick had no problem with Ripley hanging out in his office during the days, and taking breaks to dance with her on the magic dance floor. And he'd taken to cooking for her easier than Sabrina had, keeping meals simple like grilled cheese with tomato soup to dip it in, or pancakes with chocolate chips, or simply letting Ripley tell him what holy conglomerate of foods to mix together and put on a plate while she picked at it.

He was loving every minute of dad life, for as long as it was going to last.

Right now, however, the pressing issue was candy, and he came back to the game with a bowl of Skittles.

Skittles. They were never going to get her to go to sleep with that much sugar. She’d seen as much with Claire before when they were at the mortuary. They were going to need to really make sure she brushed her teeth later or cavities would start to be a thing--

Sabrina blinked. Ugh. She was thinking like Dan and considering sugar to be something evil. That wouldn’t do at all. She reached over and pulled out a handful of the candy, setting it down so Ripley could reach it better before eating a green one. “Do we eat the color skittle that goes with the card we pick?”

Ripley nodded. “You get to eat five if you pick one with the people on it! And you get lots if you win!”

“Why don’t you show your dad how to start?” Sabrina suggested, knowing Nick had no clue what they were supposed to do next. Ripley picked up a card with a green square and moved her red piece to the first green square before eating one of the green skittles.

“Mommy goes next,” the little girl told the two and Sabrina followed suit, popping two purple skittles when she picked up a card with two purple squares.

As it turned out, Candyland was easy and Ripley was an experienced player, much more so than he was. It also afforded him the chance to eat way too many Skittles. But watching Ripley laugh and tease him for being so bad at the game was his favorite thing, and more than once he caught Sabrina's eye.

They had a future here, and that future was beautiful.

‘Teach Nick kid’s board games’ was going onto Sabrina’s list of things for them to get around to. Though maybe they just needed to do all of them this way, with their daughter’s laughter echoing through the room as she tried to show him how he was supposed to play. Sabrina squeezed the little girl a little tighter to her as she rested her chin on top of Ripley’s head.

Though she arched a brow when Ripley managed to pull out the Snow Queen card for about the third game in a row, making sure to watch her carefully as she picked out a card on her next turn. Sure enough the little girl managed to pull out exactly the color she needed to win the game again. Though only after scrunching her nose and looking very determinedly at the card.

“Ripley...are you...willing the cards to be what you want them to be?” Sabrina asked, trying to make sure there wasn’t any judgement in her voice.

“Yep!” was the reply before Ripley scooped up another handful of Skittles for her victory. “It’s practice.”

Okay. The way their daughter was cheating? That was impressive. "Highfive, Ripley!" he said, like the proud father that he was, holding out his hand for her to slap. She giggled and obliged, as he beamed at her.

Sabrina shook her head at the two of them, popping another Skittle into her mouth as well. She hadn’t been able to do anything like that as a kid, but her abilities hadn’t been fully granted to her at Ripley’s age either. Maybe it was different now that they weren’t worshipping anyone.

“Time to brush your teeth,” Sabrina stated, tickling Ripley’s sides which brought about some excited shrieking before the little girl quickly sprung up and headed toward the bathroom to start the nightly routine that they had managed to establish.

Fifteen minutes later Ripley was under the covers of the spare bed, teeth freshly brushed, and in her new dinosaur print pajamas.

She was not, however, ready to go to sleep, and it took Nick's dramatic reading of three bedtime books before she started drifting off. He could get used to this. Which is what he told Sabrina when the two of them were alone in the living room.

"I mean, we apparently made the perfect little girl, Spellman," he added to the previous sentiment. "She was cheating at Candyland because she's that talented. How?"

“Pretty sure that’s one of my celestial powers.” Sabrina had done it a number of times back in their world and in Vallo, but it wasn’t one she used often. “So I guess she’s getting those too?”

Which terrified Sabrina a bit. There were some aspects to them that she wasn’t sure how a five year old was supposed to get a handle on. Mostly the one that involved being able to manipulate others with a thought or phrase. She hadn’t used it much back home--only really to help find that one little girl who’d been kidnapped by the ice cream guy--and then accidentally on others at Geliara before Allison and Lucifer had helped her control it.

There was no discounting how amazing the little girl was though. Her entire existence was almost a guarantee to a future that they might one day have.

Yeah, Nick had been raised by a werewolf so he figured no matter what they did, they couldn't do worse than that. "Seems so," he agreed. "We're going to make amazing parents one day."

Not anytime soon, they were both too young for that, and the general consensus was that this was a temporary thing. Which was weirder than normal Vallo events but at the same time, the glance at their future told him they had one. And that would fuel Nick for years to come.

"I'm really terrible at Candyland," he said. "Do you think Ripley was making me lose on purpose or…"

“No, I think you’re just that bad at Candyland,” Sabrina teased as she leaned back against the couch, taking some popcorn. There was still plenty left because of how many Skittles had been eaten instead.

“We can add teaching you mortal kid games to the list of things to do every so often. Claire would probably like doing them with us.” Maybe they could get Ripley and Claire together before the world righted itself again.