"Are you alright?" Oscar watched his wife lying face down on the couch. She looked absolutely miserable after puking her guts out earlier.

"Uuuuuuuuughhhh!" Ruby groaned from the couch. Oscar sighed. He spread a blanket over her, making sure she was warm. He felt her forehead for a fever.

"It's probably a stomach bug." He moved the bucket closer to her.

"My life suuuuuuucks." She groaned again.

"I know, I know. I'll bring you some warm whole milk later. Just get some rest, ok? I'll watch over Autumn."

"Remember she's at Ren and Nora's." Ruby muttered into the couch. "She had a playdate with Aki."

"I was the one that dropped her off because you were sick."

"Right…" She was completely out of it. Oscar kissed her on the forehead.

Ren and Nora didn't live far from the Pine-Rose household. In fact, they lived a few streets away, making it easier for both parties to visit each other. This created frequent playdates between Ren and Nora's son, Aki, and Oscar and Ruby's daughter, Autumn.

Oscar knocked on the door to the small Ren household.

"Coming!" Nora called from within. He heard shuffling and the door being unlocked. Nora opened the door. "Oscar!"

She gestured him in. Oscar stepped into the house. He followed Nora to the living room where the designated play den for playdates was. Ren sat with the two children, reading them a picture book.

Aki sat next to his father, he was about a year older than Autumn. He had Nora's flaming red hair and Ren's pink streak. His pink eyes squinted in concentration as he tried to follow along with Ren's reading. Personality wise, Oscar was glad that the young child had copied his father's calm demeanor. It made taking care of him much easier.

Autumn stood on the other side of Ren. She kept pointing to the picture book, asking him to explain or pointing out the things she recognized. Autumn had Oscar's brown hair but was tipped with red like her mother. She was not a silver-eyed warrior but had his hazel eyes. Autumn was an active child and loved exploring. Oscar absolutely loved her to pieces.

"Ren! Oscar's here to pick up Autumn," Nora called. Ren set down the book. Autumn's eyes lit up upon seeing her father.

"Dadda!" she toddled to the edge of the play pen, lifting her arms for a hug. Oscar grinned and stooped over to sweep her up.

"Hi pumpkin." He planted an affectionate kiss in her cheek. "Mommy is sick, so be good, ok?"

"Kay!"

"How is Ruby?" Ren asked.

"She was doing better when I left, but it still might be a while before she's healthy again."

"Aww. Tell her that we're rooting for her!" Nora cheered. "Kick this flu in the butt!"

"Nora," Ren shook his head. "But I do hope that she feels better."

"Thanks. Now say goodbye, Autumn."

"Bye-bye 'ki!" Autumn called.

"Bye-bye Auttie," Aki replied with his nickname for her. While his language was getting better, he still couldn't completely pronounce her name. Either that or the name just stuck.

Oscar left the family and walked Autumn home. He held her hand and had to stop every few moments to let Autumn observe something interesting or coax her away from it. After a while, she just had to pick her up to stop her from moving around too much.

When they got back to the house, Oscar set Autumn down in the crib. She always hated naps and often tried to escape. Normally, Ruby was there to quickly grab her and drop her back in the crib, but she was out of commission. He had to keep an eye on her until he was sure she was asleep.

With Autumn safely in bed, Oscar went to check in Ruby. She was asleep as well. He figured this would be a good time to start making some soup for her. He had already finished cutting up the vegetables and begun defrosting the chicken broth from the freezer when he felt a small tug on his pants. He looked down to find Autumn at his feet instead of in her crib.

"I help!" she proclaimed. Oscar sighed and picked her up.

"No. You sleep." He matched her vocabulary. He started carrying her away from the kitchen. Autumn's face twisted into frustration and he knew she was about to pull a tantrum.

"I help!" She demanded. She started squirming in his arms.

"No." Oscar quickened his pace to get her away from the sleeping Ruby before Autumn started screaming.

"I help!" Autumn squirmed even more.

Oscar placed her in her crib and stood over it to make sure she doesn't try to escape. She started screaming and crying. He could feel a headache start coming on. He rubbed his temples as he remembered the reason they called it the "terrible twos." He figured that eventually she would tire herself out. An idea suddenly popped into his head. Oscar knew that he would probably regret it later, but at least it would make Autumn stop crying and cheer Ruby up.

"Do you want to help?" She nodded. Oscar picked her up. "You can, but naptime after."

Oscar carried her back to the kitchen. He seated Autumn in her high chair as he cleaned up the space to stop her from getting hurt. He heated up the pan to a low heat and melted the butter. Then he grabbed Autumn from her chair. He lifted her up.

"Grab those vegetables and put them in the pot."

Autumn grabbed as much as she could with her small hands and dumped them in the pot. Most of the vegetables she grabbed had fallen from her hands before she could even reach the pot. Despite this, she looked very pleased with her work. Oscar let her take a few more handfuls before setting her back in her high chair. He took what was left (which was most of the vegetables) and dumped them into the pot. It didn't take long for Autumn to get bored.

While the concoction cooked, Oscar quickly left to find Autumn's coloring books and crayons. He handed them to her and asked her to draw Ruby a card. This let Oscar focus on cooking while giving her something to do.

"Dadda!" Autumn called for him. Oscar was finishing up cooking. She held up very messy crayon drawings. Oscar wasn't completely sure what it was, but he loved how proud she was of her work.

"Wow! That looks amazing, Autumn!" He ruffled her hair a little bit. She laughed in joy. She turned back to coloring more pictures for Ruby.

With the soup done, Oscar only had to wait for some milk to warm up. Oscar watched Autumn drawing. She scribbled random colors on a page from one of her coloring books. It was a picture of a huntsman. While she colored the character's skin a bright purple, she made sure to color the huntsman's cape a bright red.

"Who are you drawing?" Oscar looked over her shoulder.

"Mommy!" she replied matter-of-factly. Oscar smiled.

"Let's wake up Mommy and show her your picture."

"Kay." Oscar lifted her from her chair. He served a helping of the soup and took the milk. Autumn had already run off to show Ruby her drawings. It didn't take long for Oscar to catch up to her.

He made sure to keep Autumn a distance from Ruby as he woke her up. Ruby stirred and cracked open an eye. Oscar smiled lovingly at her.

"Hello milady. How are you feeling?"

"Hi." Ruby responded drowsily. "Better."

"I brought you some soup and some warm milk."

"Thanks."

"But there's someone here that wants to give you something." He moved aside to let Autumn come a little closer.

"Mommy! I drawed!" Autumn proudly held up her drawings. Ruby gasped and sat up.

"Autumn they're wonderful!" She took the drawings from her daughter.

"She also helped a little bit to make the soup," Oscar added.

"Wow! You're so talented! My little prodigy!" Autumn looked super proud of herself.

"Come on Autumn, time for your nap." Oscar leaned over to give Ruby a kiss on the cheek. He then got up to take Autumn back to her room.

This time she was exhausted from her earlier tantrum and being awake a little longer than she was supposed to. She quickly fell asleep. Oscar tucked her in. There were countless reincarnations before him. Each of them had created something amazing that helped humanity. He had created Autumn and he hadn't needed magic for it. And she was no doubt his favorite.

###

Within the week, Ruby had recovered from her stomach flu. She was eager to take some missions, but Oscar insisted that she stay home until she was certain she had recovered. Ruby decided to go to the doctors to prove to him that she was fine.

Oscar was working in the kitchen when Ruby returned from her appointment. She looked kind of pale when she walked in. He knew that she was still sick but didn't press the matter.

"Welcome home." He greeted her when she entered. "How was it?"

"Oscar, it wasn't the stomach flu. I'm pregnant again."