Disclaimer:
All Characters and Concepts are owned by their respective author(s). I do not own anything and I do not make any profit out of it either.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is PURELY coincidental.
THESE SMALL HANDS OF MINE
Fate T. Harlaown was home.
The red-eyed blonde was on her leave, something she rarely got to do because of her job as an Enforcer. If it's not for the minor, but crucial faulty found on her ship which she was assigned to and needed to be repaired ASAP, she wouldn't be here now: at home, watching over Vivio doing her homework while sipping a mug of fragrant home-brewed earth-grown coffee, her favorite.
Almost perfect, almost.
To be honest, she wanted to spend some quality time with her family, including her soon-to-be-wife, the TSAB Ace of Aces, Takamachi Nanoha. But unfortunately, the blue-eyed brunette was called for a sudden meeting, in which she can't help but to attend.
True, Fate was a bit disappointed with the often wrong-timing top brass of the TSAB, but it couldn't be helped as her lover was always serious about her duty.
She sighed and took another sip from her mug.
The bitterness of the fragrant coffee could always calm her nerves for some reason. She made a mental note to express her gratitude to her soon-to-be in-laws for it in her next video message.
"What's wrong, Vivio?" noticing her seven-year-old daughter wasn't exactly doing her math but staring at Fate, not her face, it's something else.
"Ah, Uh... Fate-mama," her mismatch-eyed daughter trying to change the subject after she realized she'd caught red-handed staring, "I don't understand this problem."
"Oh. Let me see…" Fate took a look at the question. "To solve this, you need to read carefully what the question means."
"And I think I saw some examples in your textbook, somewhere over… ah, here it is." She said, opening her daughter's thick textbook and showed her what she meant.
But she found that the girl was staring again, this time Fate was certain the girl was staring at her hands.
"Vivio?"
"Fate-mama, can I see your hand," Vivio asked suddenly, "Please?"
"Of course, Vivio. Come here." She answered, placing her coffee on the table.
She lifted the young blonde and shifted her onto her lap.
"Here. What do you want to see?" showing both her hands to the child.
The child looked at both her blonde mama's hands for a moment and then her own hands.
Fate was confused at what the child was thinking until the younger blonde placed both her tiny palms on hers. It's obvious that Fate's hands would be much bigger than those of Vivio's. Fate smiled at how Vivio looked so fascinated by this, but only for a moment. The child pulled her hands and looked at them for a while with a gloomy expression.
"Is there something bothering you, Sweetie? You know you can talk to mama about anything, right?"
"I'm wondering why my hands are so small."
"Oh, Vivio. Of course they are small, you're still young after all." she answered amusingly, stroking - more like messing - the other blonde's hair.
"Mou, Fate-mama. I'm being serious here." the little girl pouted cutely, protecting her hair with both hands from becoming even messier.
Despite her young age, Vivio definitely act and think more mature than the child of her age. This reminded Fate of how she and Nanoha were when they first met. And, Fate knew the girl was not satisfied with her answer.
She smiled.
"Is there something wrong with them being small?" Fate asked again.
"No. But, ..."
She wrapped her arms around the younger blonde and held her close. She stroked the girl's head a few times and rested her chin on the girl's head.
"You know, Vivio," she started, in which Vivio looked up. "Once upon a time, there was this little girl, living an ordinary life with her family of five."
"One day, due to an accident, her father needed to be hospitalized and her mother had to step up and provide for the family. Both her siblings had to quit their hobbies to help their mother."
"Since she was still very young then, she couldn't really do anything to help her family. And because of that she feels helpless and frustrated."
"'Why? Why can't I help them? Why am I so weak? Why are my hands so small?' Those thoughts always lingered in her mind."
"And on those times she was alone, she'll cry out loud. Not because she was sad, not because she was alone. But because she was frustrated." Fate paused and closed her eyes, a pang of empathy in her heart.
With Fate's hold on her loosen, Vivio turned to face her other mother and noticed the older blonde seemed lost in memories. "And then? What happen, Fate-mama?"
Opening her eyes, Fate continued, "Then, she noticed. Every time her mother showed pained expression or when her siblings seemed tired, but as soon as they saw her, they'd cheer up. Especially, when she smiled."
"Her smile was the reason why they work so hard." She stated.
"From then on she vowed to keep on smiling. She knew it wasn't enough, but it's all her young self can do." Fate finished with a nostalgic smile.
"You see Vivio, it's not about how big or small you hands are, it's about finding things that you can do and give it your all." Fate explained.
For quite some time, Vivio fell silent, as if contemplating the meaning behind her words. The way the child's brow knitted and her nose crinkled, was amusing to Fate. She chuckled inwardly.
"Ne, Fate-mama?" Vivio called suddenly, done with processing her thoughts.
"Yes, Vivio?" Fate answered earnestly.
"If Vivio smiles, Mama is happy?"
Fate hugged the little girl tightly. "Of course, Vivio. Your happiness is mamas' happiness."
Hearing that, the mismatch-eyed girl beamed and returned the hug.
As both of them released the hug, there was a sound of door opening then a familiar call of "I'm home!" coming from the front door.
"It's Nanoha-mama!" the younger blond squealed, stood up and dashed to the front door.
"Welcome home, Mama!" She shouted.
Fate, smiling at the younger girl's reaction, stood up and followed her in her own pace.
When Fate arrived near the front door, the little bundle of energy was hugging her mama's legs. And seeing the exchange, she decided to hang back a little, leaning herself on the nearby wall, smiling.
"Ara? What's wrong, Vivio?" The blue-eyed brunette in lopsided ponytail who was caught in surprise, asked.
"Vivio is recharging mama's energy through hugs and kisses!" Vivio declared, releasing the hug, a big smile on her face.
Nanoha was even more surprised at the declaration, her heart swelled with pride and love for the child.
"Oh, Vivio…" As she was lost for words, she kneeled down and in one swift motion; she lifted the girl up and spun around once. Vivio squealed and giggled in joy.
Once they stopped spinning, she planted a kiss on the little girl's cheek. "Thank you, Vivio. Mama feels refreshed already!"
"Mou, Mama, it's supposed to be the other way around." Vivio returned the kiss on her mama's cheek. They giggled together.
"Ne, Vivio. Can Fate-mama get one too?" Fate said, breaking her silence as she approached the duo, and bended to the girl's eye level.
Vivio gave her brunette mama a look, and Nanoha understood.
Both of them moved closer, and to Fate's surprise, gave her a kiss on each her cheek, giggled, and then hugged her tightly.
Fate was dumbfounded for a moment before breaking into a wide grin and returned the hug.
"I'm home, Fate-chan." Nanoha finally said.
"Welcome home, Nanoha."
A/N: Special thanks to PhoenixNext, Elfbs, and StoicL for beta-reading. Well, more like mentoring me. I've learn so many things from them and their works.
And thank YOU too, for reading this far. Now if you have any comments or suggestions please let me have it.
Have a good day!