Early Starts

"Wow... Mommy, is she tiny? Was I tiny too?... Hey, Lu! I can't see! Move your butt!"

"Mina, be quiet. You might wake her up."

"Hey, don't tell me to be quiet! Mommy, Daddy, Jack told me to be quiet!"

"Well, be quiet!"

"Lu! You're not my Mom, so you can't tell me either!"

"Look, if any of you wake her up then you won't be allowed to Grandpa's hotel next month!"

The three children stared at Mavis in horror.

"But Mom-"

"Mommy-"

"Come on guys, no fighting: Mommy's real tired after having the baby," Johnny interrupted, putting an arm around the three of them. "You need to be really nice to her and not argue - besides, you can't wake Lily up, can you?"

Mina shook her head while Jack and Lucy just sighed. "I guess not," Jack admitted grudgingly - but as he peered at the baby his eyes still lit up with undisguised interest. "She does look rather tiny, Dad - I'm pretty sure Mina wasn't that small when she was born."

"Maybe she's just small," Johnny suggested, grinning down at his youngest child. "Aren't you, Lily?"

Lily made no movements, continuing to stare up at them with wide eyes. By now her eyes had turned a dark shade of chocolate brown - presumably from Johnny's side of the family - and there was no doubting which parent she was taking after physically at the moment.

Lucy made a cooing noise. "Oh, she's so cute...I want one..."

Mavis sent her a rather sharp look. "Not yet you don't."

"What's it like?" Jack asked suddenly, giving his father a curious look. "Having a baby that's...human. Surely you and Mom are...I mean, she's going to grow up quickly-"

"Yeah," The red-haired man agreed, not looking up from the baby. "It is. To be honest, though, she's not much different from you guys - we're not thinking about the future yet, you know?"

Mina gave an annoyed sound and it was only then that Johnny realized she was still too short to get a proper look at the baby. Laughing, he picked her up in his arms so that she would have a good view and held her close to him; after everything that had been happening lately, he wanted nothing more than to keep his family close to him.

"Oh, wow!" Mina exclaimed, beaming down at the baby. "She doesn't look so squishy anymore!"

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Squishy?"

She nodded seriously. "Yeah! A few days ago her face was all weird and she looked like a toy that you can squeeze - now she looks like an actual baby!"

Lucy and Jack sent each other looks of amusement and dismay, clearly not sure what to say about this description of their youngest sister.

"Anyway," Lucy started, deciding a change in subject was needed. "You guys should get some sleep, shouldn't you? I mean, I'm sure we can handle looking after Lily for a few hours while you guys get some rest."

Mavis raised an eyebrow at her eldest daughter. "As much as I love you three... Yeah. Right. As if I'm leaving you three in charge of a new-born baby."

All three of the children looked quite offended by such a comment but didn't argue any further. "Fine," Lucy relented defeatedly. "But you guys still need to sleep - I mean, if Lily needs you then I'm sure she'll let you know."

Oh. Johnny and Mavis both grimaced at that thought.

When Jack woke up the next morning, the first thing he heard was yelling.

"Oh for..." He pushed himself out of bed and stormed out into the hallway: his parents were standing there, both looking rather angry - Jack could only guess that they had been arguing or something. "Hello?!" He snapped tiredly. "I thought you guys were done arguing!"

"We are," Johnny said, looking rather annoyed.

"We're not," Mavis agreed, rolling her eyes as she held a gurgling Lily against her chest. "But your Dad is-"

At that moment, Lucy stormed out into the hallway, giving her parents rather harsh glares. "Look, I don't care what you guys say!" She announced, pulling on a jumper as she left her bedroom. "He's my boyfriend, and if I want to go and see him then I will!"

Oh for God's sake.

"This is about seeing Freddie?" Jack asked in disbelief, not quite sure whose side he was on. "Really?"

Johnny gave an annoyed sigh. "Lu, for the last time: you saw him a couple of nights ago! You don't need to see him every minute of the day!"

Lucy turned her nose up at him, folding her arms stubbornly. "Oh, I'm so sorry that I wanted to go and see my zing tonight. Besides, you were actually okay with it until I told you we were having dinner together later on."

Mavis and Jack just had to look at each other to realize that they were having the same thoughts.

"You're only a hundred and four," The red-haired man mumbled loudly. "I just don't think that it's right for you and him to go out yet, seeing as he's a hundred and thirty-"

"Oh, that's rich coming from you!" Lucy snarled viciously. "There are ninenty seven years between you and Mom - twenty six is practically nothing compared to that!"

Johnny opened his mouth before closing it again, speechless by this. Finally, he straightened up and gave her a hard look. "You're not going to the hotel to see him, and that's that."

The eldest child gave a loud noise of anger. "This is so unfair!" She practically screeched - this resulted in Lily starting to wail again against Mavis' chest. "You used to be so fun and stuff, Dad, but now...now you're turning into a giant dick!"

Jack's mouth fell open, and Mavis gave a gasp of shock. "Lucy Martha!" She scolded, quite outraged. "You know what, I was going to try and convince your Dad to let you go but after that you can stay home tonight."

"Fine," The red-haired girl muttered, storming back into her bedroom; she slammed the door behind her, and they could soon hear her crying.

Jack looked between his parents, not quite sure what to say. "You know, Dad, I don't see why you couldn't have just let her go."

"He's older than her," Johnny stated, almost delirious with rage. "I mean...he could...she's so young still...what if..."

Mavis tutted him, shaking her head and sending him a pointed look. "They're zings, Johnny: Freddie wouldn't hurt her at all."

"Yeah, and Freddie wouldn't hurt anyone," Jack agreed, nodding in agreement. "Let alone Lu."

Johnny looked as if he was going to argue back, but after a few seconds he slumped on the spot and rubbed at the back of his neck guiltily. "I dunno... I just don't want her getting hurt or anything."

Well, this is where I should be going so that they can talk privately. Jack coughed awkwardly. "I'm going to go and get dressed," He decided, making sure to be loud so that his parents would hear him.

When he had gone, Johnny and Mavis just looked at each other.

"I don't want her getting hurt," Johnny repeated defensively.

Mavis sent him a small smile. "I know. Neither do I. But I trust him - he reminds me of you, actually, what with how clumsy and adorable he is around her." She put her free hand on his arm. "Johnny, by not letting her go you're kind of just doing the same thing that my Dad did to me when we met."

"Why are you always right?" Her husband muttered, but he gave a nod. "Fine. I'll give her a minute, though, so that she calms down."

"Great," Mavis told him, shifting Lily in her arms. "Look, I need to go for a shower; while you wait for Lu to calm down, could you make feed Lily? I have no idea what human babies eat anyway, so..."

He grinned at her, taking the baby off of her. "Don't worry about it: you'll get there eventually."

Mina frowned as she looked at Lily, who was currently being fed by Johnny.

"She doesn't do a lot," She muttered to Johnny and Mavis from where she was lying on the floor, staring up at them with bored eyes. "I thought babies were cute and played games."

"They do," Mavis assured her, a small laugh threatening to escape from her as she took in her daughter's confused face. "But you have to wait until they get older."

"Oh." Mina blew a stray piece of hair away from her face. "When can she play then?"

Mavis looked at Johnny - after all, he was the ex-human and therefore more qualified to answer that question. "Only about a year," He guessed. "I dunno, really...been a long while since I was around human kids."

The dark-haired girl gazed at the baby intensely, waiting until she'd finished her bottle to speak again. "Can I hold her then, Daddy? I'll be really careful, I promise!"

Johnny looked to Mavis, seeing what she thought: she just smiled and gave a nod. "Alright," He agreed, and Mina jumped up to sit on the couch next to them. "So, just move your arms like that...see, you've gotta support her head like that, or it'll flop... There we go!"

Mina could only look down at her little sister with wide eyes, somewhat transfixed by the very thought that she was actually holding a real baby (as opposed to a doll or toy, of course). "Daddy? Can I say something to her?"

When he nodded, Mina cleared her throat and looked down at Lily again. "Hey," She greeted, voice suddenly tiny in comparison to her usual hyperactive one. "So, you don't really know me and I don't really know you... In fact, at the minute you're kinda boring. But Mommy and Daddy say that one day you'll be more fun. Anyway, I guess what I really wanted to say was...well..." She bit her lip, leaning down closer to whisper to her sister. "I know that you're gonna be human, so you're gonna be weaker than the rest of us. But don't worry, 'cause I'll make sure that none of the mean kids at the hotel pick on you when we go."

Lily gazed up at her with wide eyes and, if Mina didn't know any better, then she would have believed that her little sister was saying 'thank you' in her own way.

Hello! Welcome to the newest addition to my Hotel Transylvania tales! :D

This story will be like "A-Z" in the sense that it won't follow a particular timeline - so one chapter Lily could be an adult and the next she could be a child. It's easier because I can write whatever I feel like when I want to.