"Mou, Alicia! You don't have to cling so tightly."
"She just doesn't like the camera flashing Nanoha-mama," Vivio managed to get out as she laughed as her sister hid her face in Nanoha's shirt. "Face it," she said as she bent down to pick up Alicia's other shoe and walked it over to where their purses were, "she just doesn't want to have her picture taken."
"Maybe if we were as relaxed as possible she would not be as scared?" Fate mused to herself as she stood regarding her wife and daughter. "What if we sat down instead of posing in place?" she thought out loud.
"We do have a studio with padded cushions on the floor," the photographer, a young twenty-some man spoke up. "It would only take about five minutes to set things up so that we can proceed in there instead," he offered kindly.
"Will that inconvenience you?" Fate asked as she looked over at him.
"Nah, just checked the schedule, there is no one who has requested it," he said as he spun the view screen around to face the young woman. "No problem to move there at all, and no additional costs unless you want to do a full session in there as well?" he added, not expecting the family he was helping to take him up on the offer. The youngest made it clear she was not a happy camper about the proceedings.
Fate looked over at her wife and got a nod from her, and another from their eldest daughter when she looked over at her. "Ok, we will go ahead and take you up on the offer for the other studio. Vivio, help Nanoha-mama with Alicia's shoes will you?"
"She will just kick them off again," Vivio said with a smile as she went to pick the shoes up.
"Actually, we don't allow shoes in that particular studio," the photographer offered apologetically, as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I am glad the opening came up; the manager is a pain when it comes to that studio. It's his personal space when he takes customers."
Fate looked at her family and raised her left foot enough for her reach behind and pull the heeled shoe off before switching to the other one. Vivio braced Nanoha as she kicked first the left sneaker off and then the right, Alicia starting to smile again now that the scary flash was gone. Picking up her wife's sneakers Fate watched Vivio slide the heels she was wearing off her feet and then followed Nanoha and the photographer from the room, collecting Alicia's shoes herself from where Vivio had set them upside down on the countertop.
"Mou Vivio, why do you have to be so graceful?" Nanoha mused as she watched her daughter slide the other heel off and join them in the hallway after picking up their purses.
"Just my luck, puberty hasn't hit me there yet?" Vivio said smiling up at her mother.
"I hope you aren't hitting puberty yet. Mid-Childa doesn't allow the same tampering of food supplies that Earth does," Nanoha commented, a look of 'I-can't-believe-my-daughter-is-how-old?' on her face.
Vivio laughed as Fate mused their daughter's hair, getting a playful smack from Vivio who just ran her hands over it to straighten it out. "Alright, it looks like he is ready for us. How do we want to sit down?" She looked over at her youngest daughter. "Other than Alicia doesn't want to leave Nanoha-mama," she teased her wife.
"Face it mama, you are the one the young children in the family latch onto," Vivio joined in the teasing, earning her a loving glare from Nanoha as well.
"Fine, I will keep Alicia with me. Let me sit down," Nanoha grumbled good-naturedly as she sat down. "Should I face away from the camera?" she asked as she stretched her legs out.
"Angle slightly, to your left actually," the photographer spoke up. "If the change in room and situation doesn't help the little one can at least face entirely away from the flash."
"Here, lean back on me," Fate said as she sat down and scooted up to Nanoha. "I shouldn't have worn this particular dress," she mused as she bounced up just enough to straighten the fabric out under her.
"It's ok mama, you can't see anything other than it's a little short for the picture," Vivio teased as she looked through the camera at the photographer's indulgence.
"Well, that's good to know. You hush," she added as an aside to her wife who was giggling at her. "How is Alicia doing?" she asked as she looked over Nanoha's shoulder.
"Fine for the moment. She definitely does not want to stay here much longer," Nanoha said as Vivio rejoined them. "Glomping onto Fate-mama this time?" she teased her daughter.
"Yes," she responded plainly as she kneeled down and then leaned into Fate who wrapped her arm around Vivio as Vivio slid her arms into an encircle hug of Fate. She felt Fate shift around and watched with a smile as her mother's started to entwine their fingers. "Mamas!" she laughed out as the photographer snapped a picture.
A moan and Nanoha was making cooing sounds to Alicia who amazingly enough didn't outright hide as the next few flashes took place. She suddenly buried her face in Nanoha's shirt as the next flash went off. "I think that's it for the little one," the photographer said humorously as he stepped away from the camera. "You have two more shots left from the set; would you like them parents in one, daughters in the other?" he asked.
A questioning look was passed around and Vivio stood, taking Alicia into her arms. "Come Alicia, its time for Mama's to have some alone time," she said as she took charge of the situation. The little one latched onto her and buried her face in her neck.
"Well," Fate asked only to fall silent as Nanoha got down in front of her. "Guess that answers that," she said with a smile.
"For one, then we switch for the other," Nanoha replied, flashing her daughter a smile.
"I do like them all, even the ones where Alicia was hiding in your arms," Fate said as they reclined on their couch, Raising Heart having flown off to check on the napping toddler.
"I do as well, but this one is my favorite," Nanoha said as she tapped a picture that Vivio had already selected as her favorite. Mother and daughter swapped smiles before looking over at Fate's laughter.
"I guess it's unanimous then: This is the one that defines the current moment for our family," she replied with a smile as Bardiche began the order for more copies of it and each one's secondary pick for the holiday photos they were mailing out to their extended family.
Author's Note: This is actually my fan fiction to a picture on , specifically /content/uyrdrecuyjpg. My thanks to Haru who found and uploaded it to the site, and to the artist who drew it originally. I always figured that Alicia would be the name of Fate's daughter and I am glad to see that it seems to be a standard in the fanfiction community.