A/N: And here's the third story in this series! This one takes place a few years after the ending of 'And Owain Makes Four', and will introduce an OC child and sibling for the family (they're actually my friend's OC, who she let me use for this story). Special thanks to my friend for permission to use her OC, who we've both absolutely fallen in love with from all the conversations, and to anyone who's followed the series to here, or are just a curious reader. You guys are great. c:


The end of August was bittersweet. Sure, it brought the promise of slightly cooler weather, which was a relief, but it also brought the new school year with it. For some kids this was a good thing; summer break was nice, but when they were in school, there was a schedule, a routine to follow, which some needed. Brady was the kid who liked the routine, while Owain preferred summer, but once they had been in school for a while, he didn't mind it as much.

As per tradition, the boys were preparing to go school shopping, even if they had left it for the last day of summer break, September fifth, to Maribelle's slight dismay. At least they were doing it, though, she finally reasoned, and had gotten them up bright and early and ready in record time before Frederick was due to arrive to take them. Normally, she and Lissa took them and they made it a family trip (usually stopping for a nice lunch afterwards), but this year it had worked out that Frederick had agreed to. Plus, she had nonchalantly told them that she and Lissa had some business to attend to that they were being awfully secret about. As much as the boys (or more specifically, Owain) pried, he just couldn't get an answer out of either of his mothers.

"Now, I know that you're now considered to be with the group of students who rule the school, but please don't let that distract you from following your list and getting things that will actually be useful for your last year of middle school, alright?" Maribelle instructed, as she fussed with Brady's troublesome shirt collar for the third time that morning.

"It won't Ma, don't worry," Brady assured her, as he let her fuss with his clothes. "I'll get what I need."

Maribelle was so distracted with giving instructions that she didn't even hear him call her the name she usually turned her nose up at.

"And your brother will get things that will be useful for his first year of middle school. That means no items that could possibly get confiscated or get you into trouble, right, Owain?" Maribelle asked, with more inflection on the first part of her sentence to get his attention.

The younger boy, who'd been looking in the mirror to try to fix his olive-green hair from its current slicked back style into his familiar spikes again from having Maribelle attempt to brush it, perked up at hearing his name. "I'm over that, don't you worry, dear mother. Sixth grader Owain won't mess around in class like fifth grader Owain did."

Maribelle hmphed, finally seeming content with how Brady's shirt looked. "Owain dear, I do love you, but I'll believe that when I see it."

Owain made a quick face into the mirror at her comment, before turning back to Brady and Maribelle. "Why do we always have to get dressed up to go school shopping? We're just going to the store."

"Because personal appearance is important, especially if you run into potential classmates and staff who also saved their school shopping for the last day before school starts, as well," Maribelle answered, and Lissa giggled at the boys' shared look at that comment, just as she came to join them in the living room by the door.

"Listen to her, guys, she knows what she's talking about," Lissa said, before continuing. "Okay, Frederick will be here any minute to pick you guys up, and I know you both already will be and totally always are, but you've got to be on your best behaviors while you're out with him."

She looked to Owain more at this comment, who had quickly dropped the face he'd made to look innocently at her. "Got it?"

Both Brady and Owain assured her they did, and Lissa resisted ruffling Owain's hair that he'd just gotten back to its spiked look.

"Dearest mother, can't you please tell us what you guys are doing now that's so important?" Owain asked as a change of subject, but Lissa just shook her head.

"It's a mom thing," she replied coolly with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Only between your mom and I."

"That's right," Maribelle added quickly, shooting a wink to Lissa over the boys' heads.

Owain was about to ask what that meant, but was interrupted by the sound of a knock at the door. A moment later, Frederick opened it. He was met with the two boys at the door, who were eager to leave (mostly to get it over with so they had the rest of the evening to get ready for the fabled first day of middle school tomorrow).

"Ready, boys?" Frederick asked, getting two nods in response. He nodded back to them, before looking up to Lissa and Maribelle. "I won't return them too late, but I was considering the three of us could have that special late lunch or early dinner after shopping that you normally do on this day."

"That works, we wouldn't want to break a tradition," Lissa quickly answered for them, and Frederick nodded.

"Thank you, Frederick," Maribelle said, before looking to the boys again, both grinning excitedly from Frederick's proposed dinner idea. "Only the essentials," she gently reminded them, and they both nodded again. They left a moment later, and Maribelle turned back to Lissa, clapping her hands together.

"Now that they've left, it's finally time."

Lissa nodded excitedly, going over to the table, Maribelle meeting her there a moment later. She opened her laptop, and the computer quickly woke back up, right where they'd left it the previous night.

That familiar donor website, where the specifics had already been worked out, and a few tabs were already open.

"Last night was a close call with the boys almost seeing what we were doing," Lissa said with a sigh, before grinning. "But I'm so excited that we decided to do this again!"

"I know," Maribelle said happily, before looking to Lissa with a serious look. "But as of right now, we are one hundred percent sure we still want to?"

Lissa nodded. "I think so, so all those late night talks and planning weren't for nothing."

Maribelle nodded back. "You're right. And I think I'm glad we decided to wait. This timing now just seems right. The boys will be old enough to appreciate a sibling, hopefully."

"Yeah," Lissa agreed. "Hopefully like you said, though, it'd be a girl this time. Not that a little brother for them wouldn't be good, too, but..."

"I know. I just love the idea of them getting to love and protect a younger sister, though," Maribelle agreed with a nod, before they were back to looking at the page they had up. This was one of the donors they had seen back when they were trying to have Owain.

"I mean, he may have a weird sense of humor, but other than that he looks really good," Lissa commented with a shrug. "I like that he's optimistic."

"He does seem good," Maribelle agreed. "We could keep his page up."

She went to the next tab, and they found another of the ones from back then.

"Heh, Mr. More Brawn than Brain," Lissa giggled at the next page. "I still don't know how that's convinced any women to have his children."

"Apparently it's convinced three people," Maribelle said, pointing to a small chart under the man's picture, the reported number of successful pregnancies and births.

"Wait, if that's a thing, go back to the first one's page!" Lissa said quickly, taking control of the laptop. She located the number for the first donor, and gasped.

"Huh, I wonder if that's a new thing they put on these," she wondered aloud, and Maribelle shrugged. "Looks like he's got...five potential children somewhere. Mr. Popular."

"Let's keep that in mind," Maribelle said, taking the laptop over again after a moment. "Like we've talked about, I'd like to find someone with preferably a light hair color, since both the boys have dark hair."

"As long as you don't get as picky for a donor as the first time when we were having Brady," Lissa teased.

"I won't," Maribelle assured her, "but I'd like to give our potential future child, daughter, if I may be so hopeful, a chance to have beautiful hair like her mothers'."

Lissa laughed. "I totally get it. I want that for her, too. If it is a girl, that is."

They quickly narrowed it down to two candidates, the pickings slim for light-colored hair matches.

"Okay, so optimistic child, or brawny child?" Lissa joked, as Maribelle rested her head on the back of her hand and stared at the webpage, deep in thought.

"I kind of really am leaning towards optimistic child," Maribelle said after a long moment, reaching for the mouse with her free hand and clicking back onto his page. She scrolled to the successful pregnancies and births information, before perking up.

"His numbers are higher than the others, though I'm aware that might not be a very helpful indicator since all women are different in regards to pregnancy success," she said, turning to Lissa. "But what do you think?"

Lissa nodded in agreement. "If you're happy with him, I am too."

Maribelle turned back to the computer, nodding. "Alright then, it's settled. Let me just jot his number down and we can make the necessary appointments. Hopefully something will be available for today, before the boys return home."

Lissa bounced in her seat excitedly at this, before turning back to Maribelle. "And you're sure you're alright with being the pregnant one again?"

Maribelle nodded once she'd written the man's information down. "My pregnancy with Brady was a breeze, and I have no doubts that it would be the same with this one."

"Hopefully our daughter, but either would be great as long as it's healthy," Lissa said, grasping Maribelle's hand. She took it and squeezed it back in confirmation, before the both went off to get themselves ready to go.


Everyone settled into the new school routine fairly quickly. Owain adjusted to the periodical switching of classes throughout the day, and Brady fell into the groove of being at the 'top' of the school among his classmates. The boys stayed on top of homework and balanced school and home life, even though that home life was about to change.

A little after a month into the new school year on a morning not much different than it had been for the past few years, Lissa woke the children up and Maribelle prepared the breakfasts. This morning though, it took Maribelle more time than usual to cook, as she found herself feeling slightly off that particular morning. Particularly because of the smells of the breakfast items she was cooking, bacon and eggs. She tried to remain composed as Lissa and the boys joined her in the kitchen for breakfast, and managed to for exactly thirty seconds before she couldn't take the smell of the frying foods anymore.

"Lissa, please take over with the cooking, I'll be right- er, right back," Maribelle managed, covering her mouth with her hand before dashing off into the other room. Lissa jumped up to take over at the stove, before suddenly realizing what Maribelle's sudden disappearance could have meant. She contained her little squeal of excitement as she started poking at the breakfast with a spatula.

"Is Ma alright?" Brady asked worriedly, both of the boys having seen what happened, and looking confused over it. Lissa turned from the stove to them, biting her lip and trying to decide what to say. Her face quickly cleared and she nodded.

"I bet she's just forgot something from our room, like her phone," Lissa played it off with a shrug. "Who's ready for breakfast?"

At the confirmation from both Brady and Owain being ready, she served the boys their breakfasts, and they dug in, and Lissa took that opportunity to check on Maribelle. She found her in the bathroom sitting on the edge of the tub, looking somewhat disheveled, but smiling despite it. Her bout of sickness seemed to be over already.

"So?" Lissa whispered, and Maribelle nodded.

"I think so," she confirmed. "But don't say anything to the boys or get too excited."

Lissa nodded. "I'll take you to the doctor right after we drop the boys off today."

Maribelle nodded back. "Are the boys alright? Did they ask?"

"I just told them you probably forgot something from our room, and luckily the food was nearly ready, so I served them and they didn't ask anything else," Lissa said.

"Good thinking," Maribelle replied. "I think we should go back now, so they don't worry too much."

"Are you feeling okay to go back?" Lissa asked, and Maribelle nodded, confirming her bout of sickness had passed. "Alright. Just be careful getting up."

"I'm not made of glass," Maribelle said gently, as Lissa wrapped her arms around her in a quick hug.

"But you could be carrying precious cargo now," Lissa replied, sticking her tongue out at Maribelle, who leaned in to kiss the tip of Lissa's nose. Lissa helped Maribelle to standing, and they headed back to the kitchen together.

"Hey, Ma, are you okay?" Brady asked upon the girls' return to the kitchen, and Maribelle nodded as she and Lissa settled in their spots around the table.

"I'm swell, thank you, Brady," Maribelle said, shooting Lissa a secret look across the table. Lissa winked back at her, covering a giggle with her hand. "Now, what's on the agenda for you both at school today?"

"I have a big day today," Owain announced. "We have our first test in English class, today."

"And you're all set for it, right?" Lissa asked, and he nodded. "Good. How about you, Brady? What are you doing today?"

"We gotta run the mile in PE today," Brady said with a slight scowl. "I hate running."

"It's 'we have to', not 'we gotta'," Maribelle gently corrected him, making his scowl deepen a bit. "But it'll be alright, dear. Running is good for you."

"I guess," Brady replied with a sigh, poking at his breakfast with his fork. "And at least it's early in the day."

They continued eating and then getting ready for school, and they left the house promptly at half past seven. Once the drop-off was complete, the girls headed to the doctor.

Neither could contain their excitement over the grainy sonogram picture which held the tiny and barely visible proof of their third child that they got less than an hour later, especially later in the day once the boys came home from school and they couldn't tell them just yet. Lissa found it hardest not to tell, but stayed quiet even when the boys asked about her excited giggling fits when she was around Maribelle.

"Nothing, I just love your mom so much and love being around her!" Lissa would reply, and the boys bought it, knowing already of their mothers' love.

But finally, once school broke for a week for the Thanksgiving holiday, it was decidedly time for the big reveal (sure, it was still a bit early, but Maribelle felt like she was close enough to being at the three months' mark that it was safe).

Thanksgiving day found the little family plus Frederick all gathered around the kitchen table, the work from them all day creating a feast fit for a kingdom that covered nearly every square inch of the table. Frederick said the grace that Maribelle insisted (for once, and for a very special reason) on, before they all dug in.

A little into the meal, under the table, Lissa grasped Maribelle's hand and squeezed, and Maribelle nonchalantly gave her a nod, before they both caught the attention of everyone presently seated.

"So we've been thinking, and we really want your guys' opinion. Do you think there's room for one more family member around here?" Lissa asked, trying hard to keep her voice steady at what she was saying.

"One more family member, like a dog?" Owain asked quickly and excitedly, dropping his full fork onto his plate with a clatter. He'd been pushing for them to get a dog for ages.

Lissa and Maribelle shared a look between themselves, before Maribelle answered.

"One more like...a sibling?" she asked, and the boys both gasped. Even Frederick looked shocked at the announcement.

"Are you…?" he began, and Maribelle nodded across the table at him.

"Almost three months," she replied, grinning and placing her free hand on her stomach, which was still flat enough to not reveal her pregnancy just yet.

"You're pregnant, Ma?" Brady asked, quickly picking up on the indications. "We're really gonna have a sibling?"

"That's right," Maribelle confirmed, and Brady's lower lip trembled at the news.

"So no dog, then?" Owain asked jokingly, and Lissa shook her head at him. "That's fine, a sibling sounds even better, anyway! This is great news."

"Do you know what it is?" Brady asked, and Maribelle shook her head.

"Not yet, darling, it's still too early," she said. "But we'll definitely find out at one of the many upcoming appointments."

"It'd be fun to find out as a family!" Lissa piped up excitedly. "Maybe you boys can come along to the appointment, and Frederick, too!"

The boys quickly agreed to going, but Frederick shook his head politely at the offer.

"It's something for you all to find out, and you can tell me later," he said.

"Then it's settled," Maribelle said. "We'll all find out together, as immediate family."

"Is there any way you're leaning more towards?" Frederick asked. Lissa and Maribelle shared another look between themselves.

"Well, admittedly, we're both kind of hoping this one will be a girl," Maribelle said. "So the boys can have a younger sister to love and protect."

Frederick nodded. "A girl would definitely mix things up a bit."

"That's another reason," Lissa said with a nod. "But honestly, as long as it's healthy, we don't really mind either way."

"That's right," Maribelle agreed, with a small squeeze of Lissa's hand. "We're just so lucky to be having another."

The rest of the dinner was spent with everyone talking excitedly about the baby, before dessert was served and everyone fell into the fabled Thanksgiving food comas.


A/N: So again, this idea/fic was spurred from a conversation on Tumblr with a friend about Brady and Owain being big siblings. We'll get to know way more about this future character in the next chapter, which will hopefully be posted sooner than later (fanfiction is important, but school is a bit more important). Until then, hopefully this first chapter was enjoyable, and thanks for reading! c: Lemme know what you think, and what you think the baby might be~