Author's Notes: Somehow, Kalibose and Mae stories always turn out to be tear jerkers, no matter what.
Mae knew she had been distracted lately, but she was pretty sure her apartment had not been on fire when she left earlier that day. Probably at least 92% sure. But at least one neighbour stuck their head out in concern as she made her way up the stairs, following the acrid smell of burned materials. Most people would have gone dashing for the Stormwind Fire Brigade by this point, but then, most people were not married to a mage. And as unpredictable and cantankerous as her gift often was, she would imagine a horrible house fire to be a pretty significant life event, and assumed she would get some sort of warning. As it was, when Kalibose had shooed her out the door that morning with milk-drunk Amaryssa in his arms and an exaggerated innocent look on his face, Mae would have to be blind to not realize he was up to something.
Although setting the apartment on fire might not have been on his plan.
She hurried a little faster. Although she trusted Kalibose with her life, and with the life of their daughter, smoke inhalation was no joke, and she wanted to make sure all the windows were open and Amaryssa was nowhere near the fire. She burst into the apartment a little more forcefully than she meant to, banging the door against the opposite wall. There was definitely an ashen tint to the air in the apartment, but it didn't appear to still be aflame.
"Kalibose?" she called uncertainly as she began to search the interior.
"I would like to let it be made known that this was not my intention."
She followed the sound of his wry voice into the kitchen. This had definitely been the source of the fire: the smoke was heaviest in here, although it was quickly thinning out through the open door onto the balcony. Amaryssa was tucked into her basket on the floor near the table, away from the smoke. Kalibose had his back to her as he tried to mop the soot stains off the floor.
"I also," his voice was muffled as he scrubbed a spot vigorously, "would like to say that at no time was any magic of the pyrotechnic kind involved." Giving up on the floor, he turned around.
Mae quickly bit down on her bottom lip and put her hand over her mouth. Whatever had happened, magic involved or not, Kalibose had obviously been in the epicenter of it. His face and clothes were covered in black soot, his eyebrows looked a little singed, and was that her apron that he was wearing?
His morose expression was the only thing keeping her from bursting into hysterical laughter.
"I tried to bake you a cake."
It took a magnanimous effort to swallow down her giggles. Once she did, she walked over to him, took the mop out of his hands, and picked up a washcloth. Wetting it in the sink, she carefully cleaned off a portion of his face so she could kiss him on the cheek. He stood there and took her administrations, looking as if someone had kicked his puppy.
"I appreciate the thought. What happened to it?"
He gestured over his shoulder. "It's sitting on top of the stove. It's pretty charred, along with the inside of the oven."
He seemed to slump where he was standing. "I guess I will add that to the number of things around here that need to be replaced."
Mae set the washcloth down on top of the stove next to an unrecognizable black lump.
"How long has Amaryssa been sleeping?"
"Not that long. I had just put her down when I opened up the oven and saw the cake on fire."
With a little effort, Mae caught Kalibose's eye. He had ash in his long eyelashes and she carefully dusted it off. "Well then, I will put her in our room, away from this mess, and how about you get in the shower and clean up?"
He nodded listlessly, and started to move past her, until she caught him by the sleeve. "And maybe, if you need help washing, I will join you."
He froze, catching her eyes curiously, not quite believing what she just said. Then his cheeks turned red even under the soot darkening them, and he nodded to her as he hurried to the bathing room.
Mae giggled to herself as she watched him, then carefully picked up Amaryssa, basket and all.
"Now you stay asleep for awhile, let us have some alone time for once."
She sat her sleeping basket on top of the bed, made sure the curtain was drawn, and giggling quietly, snuck into the bathing room.
It took several hours of scrubbing, but the kitchen was finally back to its usual spotless cheery haven. Mae sank down into a chair and sighed in relief as she took a sip of tea. Kalibose had managed to get the fire out quickly and the stove wasn't damaged, just scorched. Which she was very thankful for: appliances were expensive, and she didn't know how long she could last without her daily tea. Kalibose held Amaryssa in his lap, and made faces at her so she would smile at him.
"I'm sorry for ruining your apron."
"Don't worry about it. Seeing you wearing it was worth it."
He shot her a look across the table, then held up their daughter. "Don't listen to your mother, 'Ryssa, she is a terrible person, that mocks her mate relentlessly."
Amaryssa giggled at being held up in the air, and Mae leaned across the table to engage her attention. "And your daddy is a terrible cook."
"Well that goes without saying."
He returned Amaryssa to his lap, and Mae took another sip of tea and stretched, trying to think of what they could have for supper that did not require cooking.
"Why were you baking a cake, anyway?"
"Oh, um," Kalibose stuttered, and Mae glanced over at him. He was staring down at their daughter, purposely not looking at her as he spoke. "Well, it's Love Festival, and I couldn't really afford to get you a present, so I was going to bake you a cake. Which I will not be attempting again."
Mae set her cup down and got up, feeling terrible all of a sudden for teasing him. She squatted in front of him and took both his hands in hers.
"You don't have to get me anything to prove you love me. You show me every day."
"By setting the kitchen on fire?" He was only half-joking, and he pulled her up so he could wrap one arm around her waist and bury his face into her stomach.
"You have given everything to me." His whisper was barely discernible around the fabric of her shirt. "I just want to give some of it back."
Amaryssa made a noise of protest at being ignored, and tried to stuff an entire fist into her mouth. Mae picked her up out of Kalibose's lap and settled her against her shoulder, then gently ran her fingers through her mate's blue hair. The house settled into quiet with the advent of dusk, and the baby squirmed again against her shoulder. Mae reached down and took Kalibose's hand, and he raised his eyes to look at her.
"Come on. I have to feed her, and I want to tell you all about how much you mean to me."
"That should only take you a few seconds." Kalibose let himself be pulled up from the chair and with her through the tiny sitting area into their bedroom. "Kalibose, I need you to bring home the bacon. Kalibose, I need you to change the diapers. Kalibose, I need you to be the damsel in distress so I have someone to save."
"Kalibose," Mae started as she sat down on the bed and pulled him down beside her. "Will you just shut up for once and let me compliment you?"
He did then, to her surprise. Mae scooted back until she was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the bed, settled Amaryssa eating, and then patted the bed beside her. Kalibose laid down beside her, up on his side, so that he could keep an eye on the two of them and she could run her hand through his hair.
"Kalibose," she started, quiet and serious, "I need you because you are my rock, because you are amazing, and because you are everything to me. You never give yourself any credit, but I'm telling you what none of this happiness that I have would be possible without you."
She couldn't help but smile when she saw the tears trickling down from his eyes, but her own were not far behind. She wiped at her wet face before she continued, her voice quiet as a prayer. "You don't ever have to prove your love to me. You being here is enough."
He squeezed his eyes shut as tight as possible, but tears still slid down his face. She gently brushed them away with her thumb. His words came out as a choked whisper.
"Why do you always have to make me cry?"
Mae giggled. "Because I can."
He sat up, and wrapped his arms around both her and Amaryssa, tight enough that it felt like he would never let go. His face was pressed against her hair, and so she barely heard what he said next.
"I love you. Stay with me forever?"
She nodded slightly, and he hugged her tighter.
"I promise."
This was fun. I smell a tradition coming on.