Disclaimer: Everything you recognize is not mine.
Author's Note: I have just finished the third book of the Twilight series, Eclipse. I liked it. A lot. However, the whole Quil printing on Claire thing kind of made me squirm at first... before I realized its potential to be ridiculously awesome and adorable. So, here this is, a series of drabbles dedicated to Quil and Claire and their relationship as she grows older.
Sixteen Years of Patience
by: Looly
"After all these years, I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her."
-Mark Twain's Extract from Adam's Diary
The child carefully maneuvers her way across the floor. She is slightly unsteady, her tiny hands grasping at anything around her to keep perfect balance. Tiny giggles that his ears receive as a musical masterpiece escape her lips. Large brown eyes rise from the floor and peer into his, innocent but happy.
A mistake; she falls and scrapes her knees. Soon, the laughter is long gone and replaced by wails of pain. It's funny, he thinks to himself, the connection that they share. Her pain is his. Her sobs send stabs of hurt throughout his body, and wrecks him with grief. In not a moment he is at her side, pulling her into his arms and cradling her close.
Slowly, the sobs settle into hiccups, and the hiccups into steady breathing, and the steady breathing into soft snores. A small smile settles upon her face, and he smiles, too.
This is love.
Here we go!