A.N. Right, so this is a birthday present for Lissie. It's a one-shot connected to my other fics ERLD and HIRD, and then ending holds some spoilers, read with caution! -

Disclaimer: What can I say, Remington is suing me, Chrno sicced Rosette on me, Sister Kate made me write up a damage control paper, and Aion said if I came within a Cotenant of him he'd replace his horns and slaughter me where I stand. Nope I don't own them… but my laptop of doom controls them. -

Checkers

"You were right." The resigned sigh escaped the blond girl as she lay in the grass of the meadow just outside of 'Chrno's Cave.' The name had been given to the place when the Christopher children attempted to make a map of the forest. 'Chrno's Cave,' and "Leper's Lake' were the only names that stuck.

"…right? About what, Rosette?" The demon asked, raising his head from the board game Joshua had brought along.

"Miss Leona. She had her baby, you said she was pregnant when she first arrived, remember?" Rosette said with a huff, blowing her bangs from her forehead. She looked bored, but had complained when Joshua had suggested going exploring, saying that she was too tired. Chrno was both relieved and concerned.

"…Oh." Chrno replied unconcerned, glancing back to the red and black-checkered board just as Joshua placed his red piece on Chrno's back row.

"King me."

Chrno blinked, that was the fifth time. How was it that this boy was so easily pounding this ass at a game he'd been playing when the boy's grandparents were children?

"Yeah, and then that dumb dora leaves the thing here with us and runs away!" Rosette snapped, and one hand shot into the air above the grass line, shaking angrily. Joshua shook his head, making his next move and taking four of Chrno's remaining pieces with it.

"Miss Gene said that Miss Leona was too poor to keep the baby." Joshua informed indifferently.

Apparently, the baby was a girl.

"I think she's a loose goose!"

Chrno dropped his checker piece, "Rosette!" He gasped, unable to believe that the little girl even knew what that meant. "Where did you—"

"Well, what else would she be?" Rosette sat up glaring at the two boys, her mouth in a full pout. "She had a baby, not some disease! To just leave it like that…" Rosette's cheeks turned a dark red with her anger as she shook. An understanding smile crossed Chrno's face. Of course an orphan would feel betrayed by an action like that, and wouldn't care for the circumstances and reasons behind such a decision.

"I win!" Joshua cried, picking up Chrno's final piece to add to his stack of black checkers. Chrno scowled glancing at the red covered board. He was getting sloppy.

"Aren't I right?!" Rosette yelled, stomping over and slamming her palms into the board, sending checkers flying. Chrno jumped, looking the irate child in the face in slight astonishment, as Joshua scrambled to pick up the pieces.

"Ah, Rosette, look what you did!" The boy's complaint was dutifully ignored.

"I mean, she's the one who got pregnant in the first place, she should take responsibility!"

Chrno attempted a placating smile. Demons didn't have the family status that human's tended to go by, so it was a little hard to understand her point, but no child was ever abandoned either. The children of Pandemonium were everyone's concern, and all children were raised by the colony, no one was left out. So, he could understand her anger on that level, but the individual parenting and the attachment made to the blood parent, he did not.

"Well, you know, raising a baby is hard work, especially for a single woman of Miss Leona's—"

"You can bet your underwear it's hard work!" Rosette roared, throwing her hands into the air, and again Chrno flinched back, his sensitive ears ringing at her outburst.

"Dry up, Rosette," Joshua muttered, arms full of checkers. "Its not that bad."

"Not that bad? Well then, why don't you try staying in the girl's room with that crying, stinky, pukey, baby!"

Chrno tried not to sigh as Rosette shoved Joshua, again spilling the checker pieces as the two wrestled in the dirt, pulling at each other's hair and clothes. He understood why Joshua often pulled these stunts, needing a way to prove that he was just like anyone else, but the squabbling hurt Chrno's ears and bothered him greatly.

"Well, I'm sure I wouldn't be such a wet blanket about it!"

"Oh, it'd be duck soup, huh? Well, think again it's a nightmare!"

"You're just being a baby yourself!"

"A baby? Take that back you dummy!" The insults continued to fly as the dust kicked up around the children, and Chrno wished again that he were in his true form. Lifting and separating the two quarreling siblings would have been a breeze then.

"You two…" Chrno was ignored, and he grumbled standing up to attempt to pry them apart. "Knock it off! Rosette, let go of Joshua! Joshua, stop pulling on her hair!"

Chrno's hands closed over Rosette's shoulders and waist just as she pulled back herself. The collision was inevitable as was the out come. Chrno's hands flew up to hold her as he was knocked off balance—in an attempt to protect her from injury—and his hand fell right over her budding chest. The warm lump made Chrno blush and swallow nervously, as the girl's body became pressed to his own, her slender curves molding to his smaller body perfectly, reminding him that this girl was a child no longer, as she dragged him to the ground.

"Great going, bear cat, just squash him why don't you?!" Joshua complained, helping Chrno back up to his feet, and out from underneath the temptation that was the boy's sister.

Rosette toppled from Chrno's lap, her face a dark red from her blush. Chrno coughed, trying to cover his own embarrassment and sat back up, busying himself with the checkers.

"…sorry…" Rosette grumbled, not assisting with the mess she'd helped create. Chrno shrugged in response, not quite trusting his voice then.

"Aren't girl's supposed to like babies?" Joshua asked once all the pieces were back in the box. Chrno groaned inwardly, mentally begging for a subject change.

"Well, excuse me for liking a good night's sleep, clean air and clean clothes!" Rosette spat back, already recovered from her embarrassment. Chrno wished his body was as forgiving. "You know Rosette, there's more to babies than the bad things." Chrno sighed, placing the lid back on the game. He could feel her glare burning through the back of his head, and tried to ignore the way his instincts told him to prepare for an attack, from the challenge she unwittingly gave him. She certainly had a strong fighting spirit. "You'll understand when you're older and have some of your own." Chrno found a little irony in his statement and managed a smile at Rosette, remembering again that she was just a child herself, and was still allowed to be one, even when it drove him crazy.

"Do you have children Chrno?" Joshua's question spun him, and Chrno jerked his head up to stare at the boy in shock, a blush covering his cheeks.

"E—Excuse me?" Chrno choked out, wondering if the boy was joking. What kind of physical contact had he had in his life? Too young for Pandemonium—thank god—and Magdalene was a holy woman, talk about cursing yourself. Hell, for all he knew her blood burned his flesh, what would her orgasm do to him? Then, there was Rosette…

Chrno shoved that thought aside quickly.

"Yeah, you said you were a demon, so that makes you older than you look." From the speculating look the small girl gave him, Chrno had the distinct feeling she thought he was full of it. Chrno briefly considered the consequences of transforming then.

"So, do you?" Joshua seemed more excited by this than he had when Chrno had told him he knew the rules of Checkers. How had things changed so abruptly from the safety of a board game to the discussion of babies?

"Do you?"

Looking at the expectant faces, Chrno found himself wondering the same thing. "Well, I have you two." Chrno said quietly, and was pleased by the color and joy that flooded those tiny faces.

"That's not what we meant! Jeepers Chrno…" Rosette complained, but he could tell his answer had pleased her.

"It's true, you know. You are the closest things to children of my own, that I have ever had." The words rang truer than Chrno had believed they would, and he felt comforted by them. Yet, at the same time worried of what that would mean for Rosette and Joshua.

A demon parent—not only a demon, but one of the Sinners, the slayer of one hundred of his brothers—wasn't the best option two human children could have asked for. Though, even knowing that Chrno found he couldn't let them go. He'd found his Eden in these children, and he would protect them, as he was unable to protect those who followed the Sinner's from Pandemonium.

"You sound like you want them though." Rosette piped up from his side and Chrno jerked around to face the girl, now seated calmly before him. In fact both had taken their usual positions of "story time" around him. Chrno blinked again, a little disturbed by her assumed insight.

Did he want children? He'd never really thought of it before. In demon culture, one bred to procreate, that was all. Never had a demon bred for the soul reason of bearing children they intended to raise themselves and love. Love itself was a nearly foreign concept, but they could still feel it.

The idea of doing exactly that though, was appealing to Chrno. He could attain the dream he'd once shared with Aion, by raising his children; teaching them his ideals and goals. That was the power that the humans had over demons. They could change their destiny and future easily through their children. It was a shame, Aion had never realized how simple it really was.

A sad smile graced his lips at opportunities lost, and he let out yet another sigh, not truly answering the little girl's question.

"If you want," Rosette began, leaning closer to Chrno a blush on her pretty cheeks, and Chrno turned to regard her once again. "I can give you some."

Chrno choked on his saliva.

Rosette blinked, offended, her ears turning red as well, while Chrno desperately tried to breath, his betraying mind recalling the soft curves of her body. Reminding him that she was certainly more than capable of completing said task.

Wide, terrified crimson looked at his little girl in shock as her brother collapsed into hysterics. "Lo—looks like… like Chrno does…doesn't wa—ant you either… Rosette!" Joshua chuckled out rolling on his back, hands holding his stomach.

"Dry up, Joshua!"

"W—what?" Chrno said intelligently, as Rosette jumped back up to strangle her laughing brother. At his question, the look she turned on the pale boy clearly warned him that his life was forfeit if he so dared to answer the demon, but Joshua was either a masochist or just really stupid.

His grin was evil as his own hands tightened around her tiny wrists. "Oh, Rosette's been a wet-blanket because Jimmy told her that no-one in their right mind would want her kids." Joshua's smile was all teeth, as Rosette's face turned the color of a ripe plum.

"You rat!" Rosette cried, again tackling her brother into the dirt; force-feeding him chucks of dirt and grass. "I should soap you're mouth you dirty little snitcher!"

"What didn't want your beloved Chrno to know you're more jinxed than he is?"

"I am seriously going to hurt you!" Rosette growled as Joshua managed to roll her to the ground returning the grass eating favor.

Chrno was stunned, watching the two; face a dark color as the innocent words wreaked havoc through his mind. Rosette had no clue what she'd been offering there, and had no idea just how tempting it was to him. Both what she said and what was unconsciously implied. She didn't mean it like that… she only meant that she would give me a chance to be a parent… right? Chrno shook his hear sharply not liking the fact that he was questioning himself, and focused on the fighting kids. That warm feeling he'd been having every time he was around the two was back, and it was easier to ignore the darker side to Rosette's offer.

"I would be honored if you bore my children, Rosette." Chrno called out, voice amazingly steady as the peaceful emotions pumped through him and battled with his more evil thoughts.

The fighting stopped momentarily as Rosette regarded him and his sudden answer to her offer. Her eyes became wide as her cheeks took on a soft flush, quite different from her embarrassed red from before. They shared a look, and the small girl glanced away with a nod and grin that wouldn't fade.

Chrno looked away to the checkers box. "Joshua, play another round with me?"

"Sure!"

The day continued on as though the discussion of babies had never occurred, but Chrno would never forget it, even if it was never to be.

The mansion gave an eerie creak as it settled more fully into the base of its structure. At one time it would have frightened the two who stood in the upstairs bedroom that had once belonged to a little girl. A girl with shocking green eyes, who loved her brother very much.

The room was different now, decorated with baby toys and things. The girl's canopy bed replaced by a crib where two tin boy's slept peacefully. The tow-haired one curled close to the dark violet locked child. Both peacefully slept side by side, appearances dictated by DNA and a contract.

"They sleep like the dead." Rosette whispered, maternal pride in her voice.

"They get that from their mother." Chrno ducked the punch aimed at his head and chuckled; the mother of his children pouting up at him angrily.

"You know, you should be grateful they don't wake us up at three in the morning. You should be thanking me."

Chrno smiled and pulled Rosette into his arms, nuzzling her neck and kissing the scar from the true contract with slight regret and a tinge of jealousy. The blond gave a shiver at his touch, her own arms embracing him tightly.

"Actually, I'm just glad that they're not shooting energy blasts at Reynolds. Chrno whispered, grinning when he heard Rosette groan in distaste.

"Boy do I know it…"

Cool fingers muffled Chrno's laugh as Rosette leaned close to him, face suddenly serious. "Chrno, are you happy?" Her question seemed silly after everything they'd gone through, yet the meaning behind those words was much deeper; the question much older. Chrno kissed those fingertips lovingly, pulling his lover closer into their embrace and kissing her temple.

"More than you could ever know Rosette." He felt her smile. For a long time they stood there in the moon light, staring down at the miracle that their children were, and Chrno worried over whether he'd be a good enough father, and took joy in the fact that he had reason to worry over something so frivolous. "Thank you."

His words were barely spoken, but still Rosette responded.

"You're welcome…now…" Turning the blond backed the Sinner against the wall, her mouth covering his in a kiss as she coaxed him toward the door. "Chrno…give me some more…"

Chrno gladly conceded.

A.N. Well that's all I wrote. LOL Hope everyone enjoyed.