A/N: D'aww. Just Daine and Numair being cute on their first night with their baby girl in actual baby-girl-form. What good parents they must be. God, I love rereading books. You get so many details and ideas!

Words: 753
Characters: Daine, Numair, Sarralyn
Time: During Trickster's Choice timeframe
Genre: Family

Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to Tamora Pierce, not me.

Tiny, perfect eyes stared wonderingly up at her; fleshy hands reached for anything they could grab - hair, skin, clothes. Closeted safe in their room at last, Daine finally cried, out of sheer relief and exhaustion.

"There now, Daine," murmured Numair, a big hand supporting her at the small of her back. He sounded just as happy and tired as she felt. "Look at her. She's beautiful. I mean, she always has been, but…"

"I know," Daine said. She couldn't tear her eyes away from their perfect daughter. Sarralyn began to cry a little too, and hurriedly Daine said, "No, no, love, it's all right. Are you hungry?"

Daine pulled her shirt at the collar, exposing a breast to nurse the babe. At once Sarralyn began to suckle, the pressure warm and comforting. Daine looked up into Numair's warm eyes. "Gods, this is easier," she said, smiling.

He laughed. "She looks like you."

"I think she looks like you," Daine said thoughtfully. "Mammal offspring always look like their da directly after birth, so he knows it's theirs and will protect it."

"What a very academic way to put it, magelet."

Now Daine laughed, and tilted her head up toward his. "I've spent too much time with you." She didn't want to stand on her toes and lose her balance, and her arms were too full of Sarralyn to pull his face to hers, so she waited for him to kiss her, soft and slow. "You know she's yours," she said breathlessly.

"Mhmm." Numair let their noses touch, then nuzzled her cheek, her neck. He kissed Sarralyn's forehead before straightening and wrapping his arms around Daine's waist, leaving plenty of space for Sarralyn between them. "The two most beautiful women in the world are mine, and in my arms right now. My wife and my daughter."

Despite her weariness, an agreeable shiver raced down Daine's spine. It wasn't fair for him to be so irresistible when she was so tired. Numair was making her think much too longingly of other things she'd missed lately, when all she wanted to do right now was sleep. It wouldn't be tonight that they made up for the wedding night they never really had. Luckily Numair seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"If she'll sleep, so should we," he said, nodding to Sarralyn's crib at the foot of their bed. The crib had undergone many magical repair jobs as Sarralyn had torn it up with wolf claws, broken it with the bulk of a baby elephant, or kicked it apart with hard hooves. Now it stood pristine and whole, the perfect size for a six-week-old, two-legger baby girl. "We'll still have our work cut out for us. Though… I can't deny that I am a little bit relieved. A lot relieved, actually."

"Gods, yes," said Daine. "Me too. I was afraid she'd turn into something that not even I knew what it was."

Sarralyn, full of milk and sleepy now, wriggled amongst her swaddling clothes and closed her eyes. Daine could tell that Numair wanted to hold her, so she carefully passed the baby to him. She was so small that he could cradle her in one arm, her feet nestled snugly in the crook of his arm, her head fitting perfectly in his big palm. Numair held their daughter close to his heart and whispered to her, touching her cheeks and nose and chin, his eyes soft with joy.

Together they tucked her in to the crib. She was blessedly quiet, so Daine and Numair collapsed into their own bed, stopping only to take off their boots. Daine curled close to Numair rather than bother with getting under the blankets; his warmth was plenty comfortable enough.

"I've missed you so," she heard him murmur sleepily. They hadn't been able to share a bed for months, ever since the hoof-shaped bruises and claw marks along Numair's body from Daine's constant shapeshifting became too much for both of them to handle, and Daine had demanded that they sleep separately. Even after Sarralyn was born, she had been up half the night, tending to her constant changes.

Daine settled herself neatly under Numair's arm, her head resting at the crook of his neck, her hand stretching over his chest to linger above his heart. "Me, too," she tried to say, but she didn't know if he heard, or even if she managed to say it. Sleep overtook her too quickly, and she didn't try to fight it.