A light dusting of snow covered everything as the cars began to arrive outside the police station, a small storm blowing in that no one was too worried about. Only a few inches were forecasted to fall, which didn't put even the slightest damper on the plans for the Christmas party that evening, because as long as the roads remained clear, everyone would be able to get home to their families for the next day's celebrations and presents. Having ridden over to the station together, there was a few moments of everyone shuffling out of the back of the van that Robin was driving, as there had been extra guests coming along with them for at least a few hours of the party.

"Not only did we get to spend time at the chief's house, but we get to celebrate alongside his men as well? Normally I'm one for jokes, but this is no laughing matter!" Henry exclaimed as he climbed out of the van, pulling his giant coat around him a bit tighter as he did. "What an ice surprise for this trip!"

"Too bad it's not actually icy, or that pun would have been better delivered," Tharja replied, already standing outside the van as she was the first to file out. "It's just a little bit of snow. Would be lovely if we could curse it to go away, but we can't all win. Besides, if not for the snow, I never would have gotten to spend time with Robin dearest."

Coming around the van from the driver's side, Robin held his hands up and shook his head. "Don't call me that, please. I don't get what your weird fascination with me is, but I'd rather you not have it. Or, at least, not make comments like that, especially not around everyone that's here right now."

"Like me." An arm wrapped itself around Robin's waist, and he was quickly pulled to be snuggled up right beside a peppy-looking woman with long hair that was collecting snow in it. "You know, the woman he married?"

"Marriage is just a social construct that can easily be ignored when I get the chance." Her straight-lipped expression turning into the smallest of smirks, Tharja completely expected that other woman to get enraged at what she heard, and she was not surprised in the slightest when the woman charged at her, slipping on a patch of ice that had been obscured by snow and falling flat on her face.

"Now that's an ice surprise, I'd say!" Laughing gleefully at successfully getting to make the pun, Henry grabbed Tharja's arm and started heading her over towards the doors of the station, so that she couldn't cause any more trouble outside than she had, which left everyone else who had ridden over together there to deal with the aftermath of what had just happened.

In the moments after falling, the woman had picked herself up off the ground and was brushing the snow off of her clothing, while Robin had come right to her side (avoiding the patch of ice that had caused her to fall) and grabbed her face to make sure she hadn't busted it open. "Gods, Sumia, you need to learn to be more careful on cement," he said, his investigation coming up with no marks to be worried about. "I get that she was being infuriating, but you didn't need to rush at her."

"I'm sorry, I just didn't want to lose you to her, that's all. I know I'm not the best at anything, and she probably is, and…" Sumia's voice trailed off as she began sniffling and blubbering like a lost child, causing Robin to sigh and wrap her up in a hug. "I just wanted to make sure she knew not to mess with you."

"I think she knew that without you getting yourself hurt. Now let's get inside before anyone wonders what's taking us all so long." Together, they got about five steps before stopping, as Robin looked back to see the other two who were still getting out of the van. "You guys coming still or what? It shouldn't take that long to get out of a vehicle."

"Oh, we would have been out faster had things not been happening. Maribelle didn't want to get herself involved in that mess." Both feet down on the ground and holding his hand out to help his wife out of the back seat, Frederick gave a shooing wave towards Robin. "You get inside and don't worry with waiting on us. I can assure you that Chrom most likely needs your help with something in there, so why leave him to struggle when there's no reason for you to still be out here with us?"

Taking a moment to think about that, Robin nodded. "You got it. Just don't decide you're going to head back to the house without everyone else who rode over here together. I don't think there'll be enough room in Chrom's car for everyone to ride home with him."

"We won't even entertain the notion of leaving without everyone else. Not after the preparations we made for this evening." After watching Robin decide to heed the words and head inside, Sumia still very much wrapped in his arms, that was when Frederick felt a hand grabbing his own, and he looked to see the innocently-smiling face of Maribelle staring at him. "Oh, my love, you look fantastic tonight, especially in the natural light out here."

"Thank you, so very much. But we both know that I would not look even close to this stunning if it weren't for you sacrificing your time yesterday to take me out shopping, so thank you for allowing this to happen." Kissing his hand before using it to get herself out of the van and onto the snowy ground, Maribelle beamed at her husband as he closed the van's door behind them. "We'll be the best-looking couple at this party, no arguments needed. Did you see what our companions were wearing?"

"Casual clothes, yes, because this is not a formal event." He watched as her face turned from happy and excited to horrified, and so he shook his head once she was finally done being dramatic. "I've explained that many times now, Maribelle. Just because it has been a formal event in the past does not mean it'll always be one. With the early cold snap we received this year, a formal event tonight would result in many rolled ankles and injuries caused by dress shoes on the ice."

Her look of horror went from facing him to straight down to the ground, where she saw the tips of her toes poking out of her peep-toe heels she had bought specifically for the occasion. "Er, why didn't you tell me about that yesterday while we were shopping? I'm sure I could have gone without buying heels for the evening…"

"By the time you had picked out a dress and were working on selecting shoes, I knew it was a lost cause and a waste of breath. You will not be falling tonight, however, not on my watch." Without a second's hesitation, he let go of her hand and grabbed her, getting her positioned in his arms bridal-style, to which she laughed and threw her head up against his arm. "See, there will be no falling done by you tonight. I'll make sure of it."

"Unless you fall while trying to be my noble knight," she said, pressing her cheek into the sleeve of his jacket. "But I would certainly hope you have no intentions of that happening, holding me like this. I can't even remember the last time you held me this close to your heart." She broke into girlish giggles then, batting her eyes as she did, and he became clearly flustered, his face picking up a pale blush. "Oh, don't get so flustered by me speaking about that. It has been a long time since you carried me like this, though."

"It wasn't what you were saying that flustered me, but rather how you were saying it. Please try to tone down your absolute attractiveness, at least while around others." Exhaling a bit in an attempt to calm himself and his blushing down, Frederick then started walking towards the doors to the station, still holding Maribelle in his arms until they were inside the building, where several of the people who had gathered for the party noticed that he was holding her the way he was, while she was laughing and saying small thingstrying to get him to blush more.

"Hey, it looks like truly chivalrous men still exist in this world," Chrom said, once he saw the two. "Figures that Frederick would be one such man, but that's no surprise. Glad to see you've put your wife before helping finish setting everything up." To drive his point home, the blue-haired man gestured towards a long table of party refreshments that seemed to be only half arranged, with the only thing that looked properly placed being towers of pies. "I mean, it would be a shame if something had happened to her, but you were in charge of so much tonight and—"

"Like setting a fire in the fireplace and getting the drinks set out for everyone's enjoyment." Cutting off Chrom, which he apologized for with a small "sorry, sir" once he had finished saying his piece, Frederick made sure to get Maribelle back on her feet and out of his arms before setting off to do as he was supposed to. "I will start on the fire first, then to the drinks. I would assume that heat is more important than thirst."

Watching as his friend started towards the pile of firewood next to the large fireplace in the room they were all in, Chrom shook his head. "Frederick, no, the fire isn't what's most important here. Drinks are!" But his words were falling on deaf ears, leaving him to stand there and shake his head. "Guess I'll do the drinks myself, then. I mean, I had to bring the coolers of everything in on my own, so why not set it all up too?"

"I'll help you out, Chrom. No worries." Robin, having separated himself from being wrapped around Sumia, but still standing with her next to him so that she was blocking him from Tharja's view, gave a small smile and nod at Chrom, who seemed happy to get that sort of response. "Besides, it's my fault for not thinking that through better. We could have brought something in the back of the van, rather than you bringing it all in your car."

Chrom came over to Robin and put a hand on his shoulder, before turning him to show him just how much stuff was sitting on that long table. "Would have appreciated that, you know. I don't know why she felt that she needed to do it, but someone sure baked a lot of pies for the occasion."

Hearing the word "pies" mentioned, Sumia pushed herself in between the two men, facing Chrom as she did. "Oh, you know me, I just love baking pies!" she said, running her fingers through her hair. "Especially when I know someone as wonderful as you will be enjoying them." A cough from beside her, coming from Robin, caused her to sputter a little bit, before giving a sigh and correcting herself. "I mean, especially when I know people as wonderful as this police force will be enjoying them, since they're for everyone. Especially you, Chrom."

"What did I say about this sort of behavior?" Robin, clearing his throat once more, waited until Sumia gave up and stepped aside before he continued speaking. "Just because you want to impress him doesn't mean you need to get so weird about it." She hung her head in shame and gave an apology, but he didn't buy into it. "I knew that taking this night to be together without the kids was a bad idea. We should have waited and gone somewhere where there wouldn't be so many people as distractions."

As she stood behind the three, listening to their conversation, Maribelle couldn't help but look to her side to see Henry and Tharja standing there, having a conversation of their own that mostly consisted of the white-haired one telling jokes and the dark, dour one making creepy comments about Robin. She shuddered at one of the things Tharja admitted to wanting to do to the lead investigator, and that was her sign to go find somewhere else to stand while she waited for Frederick to get done setting the fire up. There had to be other guests at the party aside from the ones gathered right there, after all, and as the social queen she tried to hard to be, she needed to find them and talk to them.

On her way to one of the side offices to check and see if anyone was in there, she heard two voices she recognized as belonging to coworkers of Frederick's, and so she looked around where she stood to see if she could find the people. It took taking a few more steps and looking around a corner to another gathering area, but she found the two people she overheard talking, and they seemed genuinely surprised at seeing such an overdressed woman approaching them, both waving at her with welcome smiles on their faces. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything over here," she said, as she sat down on the couch that was across from the one they were on. "Don't want to be too much of a burden on either of you tonight, so just say the word if I am."

"I don't ever think you're a burden, Maribelle. Not even when everyone else says you're being one." She gave the speaker a big smile, and he froze, covering his mouth with a hand. "I didn't say anything wrong there, did I? Sorry, sometimes my thoughts get muddled when I'm hungry, and I am definitely hungry."

"If your intention was to show how nice of a guy you are, I don't think you said anything wrong at all, Stahl!" Her mouth still wide in a smile, Maribelle took a second to think about the scene she had just left before speaking again. "Why are you hungry, with all of the food that's here tonight? I swear, someone needs to lock Sumia out of the kitchen sometimes. She baked so many pies for the evening that they're swimming in them out there."

Dropping his hand, Stahl's eyes went wide and he eagerly grabbed the arm of the person he'd been talking to before Maribelle had gotten there. "Did you hear that, Miriel? She said they're swimming in pies! I should go make sure I get some before someone makes a contest out of them!"

"No one who is present tonight will be making contests out of anything, so there is nothing to worry about there." Shaking his hand off of her arm, Miriel looked at Stahl over the rim of her glasses, before turning her attention across to Maribelle. "My, my, you got quite dressed up for a casual evening of celebrating the holiday season. Any particular reason for why? I am most curious about if there is anything else I should be open to being excited for on this snowy evening."

"Nope, not really. I just enjoy dressing up when I get the chance, and since I've kind of got a ten-month-old at home, that chance doesn't come up often." Maribelle looked down at her legs, which were covered in the pale fabric of her dress, and she sighed longingly. "Seriously, I think I've gotten dressed up like this maybe twice in the past year. I was not giving up this opportunity for anything, not even the weather."

"Well, you look marvelous, and do not let anyone tell you otherwise. A good formal dress has a place in any situation, including casual holiday parties, and you will be outshining every other soul who enters this building tonight." Giving a small smile, Miriel's view of the woman across from her was obstructed by Stahl leaning in front of her, his eyes closed and his nose scrunching up. "What are you doing right now, Stahl? You are aware a conversation is happening here, correct?"

He nodded, before standing to follow whatever it was he was sniffing. "I can't tell if I'm smelling perfume or cookies, and I really hope it's the second one," he explained, walking out of the little room and out to the main gathering place, leaving the ladies there to both sit in silence as they thought about what they had just seen. His head poked around the corner a minute or two later, a cookie in his mouth, and the way his face was alight with joy was almost enough to convince both ladies to follow him for the treats.

Almost was the key word. "That man interests me, due to his strange habits and his downright obsessive behaviors toward food," Miriel said, brushing the leg of her pants a bit to straighten them. "It is a shame our paths never cross aside from at outings such as this one, because studying him would be a wonderful experience. Ah, such is the life of the police force's bookkeeper, I suppose."

"I guess? I mean, I know you and Frederick work together all the time. He's always telling me that if he doesn't fix Chrom and Robin's mistakes, you do it when you're doing the paperwork, and you do a great job of it." Hearing the compliment, Miriel gave a small smile and a thanks, which made Maribelle return the favor in terms of facial expression. "I wouldn't ever see him as a liar, so I think you can take what I've told you as the absolute truth. You're such an important member of this organization."

"Hearing you say that is one thing, but it makes me wonder if I could pull this information from the source himself." Getting to her feet, Miriel bowed slightly before making her move to leave. "Excuse my rudeness for abandoning you like this, but my curiosity must be answered while I have the chance. I will return once I have been given my answer."

She politely waved as the other woman left, but as soon as she was sure Miriel wouldn't be turning around to check on her, Maribelle sighed and reached into the top of her dress, pulling her phone out from where it had been nestled in her bra. The device was vibrating in her hands, and she thought it was a real miracle that it hadn't been heard at all, even though she was sure she had been making some really interesting facial expressions as it had been vibrating in her chest. Without a second's hesitation to even look and make sure that whoever was calling was someone she wanted to talk to, she swiped the screen to answer and put the phone to her ear, not expecting the first words she heard to be what they were.


Being in charge of her niece and nephew wasn't anything out of the normal for Lissa. When she had lived with them, whenever Chrom and Olivia had something going on, she was instantly put in charge of them for however long was needed. Having to watch Brady wasn't that big of a deal either, since he was the only non-family member that Maribelle trusted with him. But to watch those three kids at once, plus Robin's children as well, it was shaping up to be a nightmare, even with there being two other people who were technically in charge and supposed to be helping out.

Olivia would have been up for helping more if she wasn't locking herself in her bedroom to finish wrapping presents to put under the gigantic Christmas tree that had been erected in the living room. Lon'qu never was going to be helpful, not when all he was doing was sitting on the couch and watching some old holiday special and coldly telling children to leave him alone when they wandered near. So it was up to Lissa to keep the five kids in check, which was really difficult when four of them were running around and getting into trouble wherever they pleased, while the fifth wasn't going anywhere fast unless she was moving him around.

"Come on, slowpokes!" Stomping her foot into one of the stairs about halfway up to the upper landing, one of Robin's little girls, the pigtailed one with a giant smile on her face, looked down at the other three kids she was playing with. "Bad guys don't wait and we can't let the bad guys win!"

"There aren't any bad guys…" the other of the girls, her short hair currently held back from her face with a Christmas headband, looked up at her sister and shook a fist. "Cynthia, we aren't playing bad guys and good guys! We don't have a bad guy!"

"We don't have a bad guy?" Cynthia's face fell as her little fantasy world came tumbling down around her, and she sat down on the stair she'd been standing on moments before. "Aw man, I thought we had one! Morgan, why don't we have one?"

Reaching the step her sister was sitting on, Morgan climbed onto Cynthia's lap and shrugged. "No idea, must be your fault. Silly little sister, always getting the games wrong."

"I know how that feels," Inigo said, hanging his head as he heard the sisters talking. "Lucy is always saying stuff like that to me. Big sisters are hard to make happy when playing with them, and it's not fun."

"I so let you make up games sometimes, you liar." Nudging her brother in the ribs, which made him do the same back to her, Lucina got onto the stair right below the one the sisters were sharing and put her hands on her hips, leaning close into them. "Now, um, how do you know which one of you is the older one? Aren't you, well, the same?"

Both of the girls who were seated there looked at Lucina like they'd been asked a question they heard a million times before. "We're not identical, no," Morgan replied, straightening her back while she was still sitting on her sister's lap. "I mean, we're close, but not the same! I'm the older and prettier one, and Cynthia's the younger and not prettier one."

"I'm still pretty though, right?" Trying to move so she could see around her sister, Cynthia gave up on trying when she didn't get any response, and sighed as she stopped moving around. "Guess not. Morgan wins again."

"You're pretty!" Running up to be by his sister's side, with her respectfully moving so that they could both stand on the stair, Inigo blinked a few times as he tried to tell which of the girls it had been who had spoken, but because of their near-identicalness, plus the fact that one of them was blocking the other, he just couldn't tell. "I want to say it to your face, 'cause that's the nice thing to do, but I don't know who said it…"

"It was me!" Once again getting chipper, Cynthia finally gained the courage to push her sister aside to be able to see Inigo. "I said it! Me! Cynthia! You think I'm pretty?"

He smiled so intensely that both of his eyes were squinting and his face was scrunching up. "I sure do! I think most all girls are pretty, but 'specially you!" The giggling that resulted from that, from both sides of the conversation, was enough to make Lissa, standing down at the bottom of the stairs, think that she was watching the first hints of young love blossom, even though her nephew did tend to tell every girl that he thought she was pretty. But not everyone present for the exchange was fine with the innocent flirting, and they soon made that known.

It happened faster than anyone could have possibly stopped it, which made it all the worse for those of whom watched it. Morgan, not liking that her younger twin was being talked to in such a manner, leaned forward and pushed Inigo backwards, causing him to tumble down the stairs, landing upside down at Lissa's feet. He seemed to be perfectly fine, although a bit unsure of what had happened. "You okay there, kiddo?" Lissa asked, bending down to check on him, after repositioning how she was holding Brady in her arms. "Looks like you just took quite a fall."

He went to reply to her, but began coughing instead, sputtering blood as he did. By that point, Lucina had gotten down the stairs to see what damage her brother had incurred, and she was present to see the red droplets spitting everywhere as he coughed. "Oh no, what's wrong?" she asked, working with her aunt to get him seated in a way that wasn't upside down. When he was finally able to open his mouth, they got to see that, somewhere along the way down the stairs, he had forcefully knocked his two front teeth out, and they were pouring blood as they dangled by mere threads. "This isn't good. Don't you worry, Inigo, we can fix this!"

He stared at them with a dazed look in his eyes, so unaware of what had happened that it hadn't registered that he was supposed to be in a lot of pain. "Lucina, you go knock on your mom's door and ask her to come here," Lissa said, taking charge of the situation like she knew she needed to. "I'll make sure it's only his two teeth that got knocked out of place."

"Got it, auntie Lissa!" Giving her brother one last concerned look, the little girl ran down the hall and could be heard banging her fist on a door loudly moments later. That left Lissa standing there over the still-dazed boy, as he was trying to figure out what had happened. He still wasn't acting as if he was in pain, which made her very hopeful that there wasn't too much more going on with him, and she was right—from a basic inspection, he hadn't seemed to bite through his lip or tongue, which meant that all he had done was hit his teeth against a stair hard enough to pop them loose.

The twin girls were down beside them at this point, Cynthia looking at Inigo through gaps in her hands that were covering her face and Morgan looking with an expression of pure horror on her face. "I didn't mean to do this," she said, tears welling up in her eyes. "I just don't like boys messing with my sister! Boys are icky and not fun!"

"Well, now you know that when you're playing on the stairs, pushing boys away isn't an option unless you want this to happen." Hearing some whimpering, Lissa thought that maybe it was her nephew finally catching on to what had happened, but instead it was the child still tucked in her arm. She gave an exasperated sigh, stepping back so that she could readjust how she was holding him without hurting anyone. "Why did this have to happen tonight, anyway? Of all the nights, I swear!"

"What's happening out here with my little boy?" the panicked voice of Olivia asked, as she rushed to the scene as fast and delicately as her feet could bring her, Lucina following right behind. "Lucy said that he fell down the stairs and was bleeding."

At the sight of his mom, it seemed that Inigo finally was realizing that he was in pain, made obvious by the way he was grabbing for her arm and beginning to make groaning noises akin to a dying animal. "Uh, let's get him somewhere where he won't be dribbling blood all over the floor," Lissa said, watching as blood began pouring out of the corners of the boy's mouth. "Maybe the bathroom sink? He's got a mouth full of blood still, I think, and he should really get on spitting that out." Why she hadn't thought to have him do that sooner, she wasn't sure—maybe it had been the heat of the moment, or maybe it had been her not quite thinking clearly—but once she brought it up she saw the boy nod and allow a few droplets of watery blood to fall straight to the hardwood floor.

All of the young girls present screamed, Morgan nearly climbing onto Cynthia once more and Lucina hiding behind her mom, who was working to get Inigo to his feet so that she could get him anywhere else. "Come on, little one, let's get you cleaned up," the soft-spoken woman said, smiling down at her son as he resisted standing. "We need to see what's happened in that mouth of yours, to see what you did to your pretty teeth." Despite his clear disinterest in listening to her, she was able to finally get him to his feet and begin leading him towards the nearest bathroom. "What a shame that this had to happen right before we get to take all those present-opening pictures…"

With them leaving, Lissa took a moment to look at the twin girls, still sitting horrified and one on top of the other. "I don't know what made you think that was okay, but that was totally not okay. Stairs, really? I'm going to tell your dad to deal with you for that, because I don't even know where to start!" Morgan gave a small, timid nod, and Cynthia closed the gaps in her fingers so she couldn't see what was going on. "Now you two go sit somewhere and play quietly. No stairs. No running. And especially no being mean to the other kids!" One more small nod later and the girls were slowly walking off towards the dining room, which was not the best place for them to be playing but Lissa couldn't bring herself to care. At that moment, all she wanted to do was clean up the blood from the floor and put the kid she was holding down.

The mess was easy to take care of once she had a towel to sop it up with. It was finding a good place to set Brady down that was the problem, because after she had thrown the bloody towel into the laundry, she went into the living room where Lon'qu was still watching something or other and instantly the child started fussing, not liking the noise of the show that was on or something. "Please remove him from in here," the gruff man said, not taking his eyes off of the screen. "Trying to watch a show."

"Sorry, I just…don't know where else to go." She tried adjusting him yet again, but the crying got louder and she sighed. There were other places she could go to watch him, but they were either upstairs where she then wouldn't be able to hear the other kids, or in the dining room where the girls should have been sitting and playing. She definitely did not want to see those very similar faces watching her as she struggled to keep this baby from crying, so she stood her ground and shook her head as Lon'qu actually looked at her. "Please, don't make me watch all the kids on my own. You're supposed to help too."

"No one told me I was helping. I should have taken Chrom's offer to go to the party instead of being stuck in this madhouse." As he spoke, Lon'qu stood up, walking up to Lissa and motioning for her to hand over the child. She looked at him hesitantly, unsure of if she could trust his motives or not, and he frowned even deeper than he normally was. "Give me the screaming monster and we'll settle this here."

"He might be screaming, but Brady's not a monster." The words made her even more hesitant, but the way Lon'qu was just standing there, arms open for helping, were the convincing image that got her to pass the child over to him. Once she wasn't holding him, she looked at her own arms and saw them both covered in what was either drool or tears. "Ew, that's so gross. I think he's—"

"Teething. Yes. Something that I'm sure your nephew will be jealous of this child for." Holding Brady far in front of him with mostly extended arms, Lon'qu let his eyes narrow, almost glaring at the boy. "I think I know what we need to do to keep him from making too much of a fuss."

"—yeah, that's what I was going to say." Lissa smiled, before doing a bit of a double take as she realized what else she had just heard. "Wait, you know what we should do? Since when do you know anything about kids?"

Not moving a muscle, Lon'qu replied, "I just do. Now listen to me and do as I say." She nodded, watching in awe as he brought the child closer to him, just for the poor boy to start whining again. At the first sound of a cry, he was pushed back away, which hushed him. "Hm. Maybe you should just sit with him while I do what must be done. I can't seem to get him to trust me."

"I'll take him back then, I guess," she said, carefully grabbing the child she'd just passed over to him and holding him loosely in front of her, the crying starting up once more. "Now what's this great plan of yours, because I swear I'm going to call Maribelle and tell her she's got to come back and get him to stop if we don't figure this out soon."

"You just sit down and tend to him the best you can. I will work out the details." Giving a curt nod, Lon'qu pushed past Lissa and left the room, leaving her standing there slightly confused. She had intended to follow him and see what he was doing, but the idea of ignoring his demand and seeing what sort of rage he'd fall into wasn't worth it, not when he seemed to know what he was doing. That left her to go sit down, cradling Brady in her arms the best she could with him fussing and squirming like he was.

"Seriously, I need to talk to your mom about how she babies you too much. I get it that your mouth's probably all hurting and stuff, but you shouldn't be such a pain to watch. Lucina and Inigo never were this bad when they were this small." Trying to make light of the situation, Lissa took hold of one of the boy's hands and moved it around, hoping that it would be enough of a distraction to calm him down. It worked, somewhat, because the crying stopped, but whenever she'd pause to give her arm rest, he'd start sniffling again. "Gods, you're so spoiled. You really are your mom's kid."

Paying so much attention to how Brady was reacting to her moving his hand, Lissa didn't notice when Lon'qu came back into the room, and so when he was once again standing in front of her, she was caught off guard and gave a loud gasp. "There is no need for that. I just returned with what I went to get, and now you unhanding the child and giving him back to me would be appreciated."

"Can't you do whatever it is with me holding him?" It wasn't that she didn't want to follow his directions at that point, but rather it was the way he was so demanding that made Lissa uneasy about listening to Lon'qu. "I bet it would be easier that way, anyway. So you can have two hands to do it and all that."

"I can do it with you holding him. Just sit him up and stop coddling him. You should know that you don't have to follow through with the terrible behavior his mom exhibits towards him." Surprised that he had paid enough attention over the past few days to know about how Maribelle treated the child, Lissa knew that she should just go along with what he was saying and not look back on the decision. As soon as she had the baby sitting up in her lap, Lon'qu knelt down in front of them and grabbed a little bag out of his pocket, opening it and tilting it sideways so that the powder it contained spilled closer to the opening. She watched as he brought it closer and closer to Brady's mouth, until the slightest edge of the bag was touching his lip, and once a few specks of the powder were inside the child's mouth he pulled it away and sealed it back up. "There. That should do it. No more crying, no more whining, and no more intolerable child for the evening."

"D-did you just drug him?" Watching as Lon'qu put the bag back in his pocket, Lissa had a hard time believing the stern no he gave as an answer. "Then what was that? You can't just put something in a kid's mouth without telling me what's going on! Maribelle will kill me if she finds out you drugged her kid!"

"He hasn't been drugged. Stop making a scene." Standing back up, Lon'qu looked down at Lissa with his normal neutral expression, which only made her doubt him more. "If you're so concerned about what it is, you can either ask me like a normal person, or you can ask Olivia when she's finished tending to the hurt boy. She would approve of me using this on this child, and so should you."

Hearing Olivia's name be mentioned should have made Lissa relax a bit about what was going on, but she was too skeptical to just be calmed by knowing her sister-in-law would find it okay. "Yeah, well, she's not the one who made the decision to do it, so you better fess up real quick to what you've done to Brady, or I'm going to call Maribelle and tell her that you're trying to kill her baby!"

"If it kills him, that's not my problem. All Feroxi children are given this when they're ill and in discomfort, in tiny doses." He pat his pocket, touching the little bulge that the bag made inside of it. "A remedy that stops all suffering and makes warriors strong once again."

"Why couldn't you just say that sooner?" Lissa, making a mental note to ask Olivia at a later time about the validity of that statement, narrowed her eyes at Lon'qu as he softened his gaze at her. "Seriously. Now I feel bad for thinking you were trying to kill him. Are you just so bad at talking to women that you didn't know how to approach bringing that up to me?" Lon'qu visibly stiffened, choosing to ignore what she had said and walk out of the room again rather than reply to anything. She shook her head and took a deep breath, looking down at the child in her arms, who was beginning to doze off, whatever it was that he had been given taking quick effect on helping him. "I really hope you're just going to sleep, and that you're not dying," she said, leaning down to kiss the dark-haired top of Brady's head. "Which I don't think you're dying, not really."

The boy gave a sleepy yawn, reaching up to grab the end of one of Lissa's pigtails as he did, and she kissed him again. "You're such a good baby, even though you're a pain to be in charge of when your mom's not around." His fingers latching around the locks of hair within his reach, she chose to start cuddling him a bit closer, feeling how he was beginning to lose his sitting balance as he started drifting to sleep. "Gods, watching you is so much fun though. I guess watching you is a good…hm." She tapped her tongue to the roof of her mouth a few times as she thought about what she wanted to say. "A good way to know what kind of parent I'd be, I guess? Not like that really matters."

Her tongue-tapping stopped and she blinked slowly, looking from Brady up to the empty entryway to the room, then over to the decorated Christmas tree that was standing tall in the corner, finally letting her eyes track back to the child. "I always thought I'd be a better mom than Maribelle, but she fell in love with and got married to a guy who became a great dad to compliment her decent mommy skills. And I…think I'm jealous of that. Of her having a baby like you," she jostled the now-sleeping child slightly, "and me having nothing but a boyfriend who disappears with other women right before the holidays."

Again her eyes tracked to the tree, but instead of taking in its lights and baubles, she focused on the presents underneath it, several of which she knew were for her—and she wasn't supposed to admit it, but she knew what was inside one of them. She knew that, delicately wrapped with the help of Chrom and anyone else who was in on the plan, Vaike had put a ring under the tree for her, and he was completely expecting to make a big scene about proposing to her the following morning. "How funny is it that he wants to marry me, but he can't even be around for when he wants to ask me? If that's how things are going to be, how am I supposed to eventually have kids with him, if he's probably just going to disappear?"

A glimmer of hope appeared in her eyes then, as something came to her, a thought she'd tried so hard to ignore for the longest time. Carefully standing up as to not wake up the child she was holding, she made her way out of the room and up the stairs to the bedroom where his crib was, so that she could lay him down and be free of watching him for the time being. "Thanks for helping me realize something, you sweet boy you," she softly said, leaving the room but keeping the door open just a crack, in case he woke up and needed her to come tend to him. Once she was back in the hall, she noticed that the door to the room Lon'qu was staying in was also ajar, but she refrained from messing with it because, in her mind, there was something more important that she needed to do.

Flopping onto her bed, she reached for her phone that was sitting on her pillow, and after ignoring the missed calls and messages that she had no real desire to deal with, she found the number she was looking for, dialing it and waiting for the other person to pick up. As soon as she felt the other party was listening, she had at it: "Maribelle, I don't think I'm in love with Vaike anymore."

"What? Lissa, dear, please don't startle me with such absurd comments. You've been in love with him for years. So maybe he's off being trapped who-knows-where, and maybe he's the reason you are not here at this party tonight, but that doesn't mean you have fallen out of love with him." It was evident by the way that Maribelle was speaking that she was caught off-guard by the sudden confession, and Lissa so badly wanted to interrupt her to tell her that she was dead wrong, but waited to hear what else her friend had to say, a good decision in the end. "Then again, I know that not all love is meant to last, and whatever reason you have for saying this must be a good one."

"It is, trust me. And I've got no one to thank for it but you." The surprised gasp on the other side of the line was enough to make Lissa laugh. "No, I'm not saying I'm in love with you, Maribelle! I'm saying that if it weren't for you making me watch Brady tonight, I wouldn't have realized that I need a man in my life that I'd want giving me kids, and that Vaike just isn't reliable enough for that." Continuing laughing, she slowly nodded to herself and thought about what else she'd come to realize. "And also, uh, I think I might have found a guy who can do what I need."

Without missing a beat, Maribelle had something to say, her voice full of hesitation but excitement at the same time. "It's that Lon'qu fellow, isn't it? I can't say I see anything in him that I don't see in the man you already have, but if it makes you happy…"

"I haven't done anything yet! I'm just saying, he can do what I need in a guy, and he's totally actually here if I decide I want to make my move." She went to explain why she felt this way about him, but chose to refrain because explaining the whole situation with the medicine seemed like it would be better to do in person. "And I totally care for Vaike as a person, like I always have, but maybe me getting with someone Chrom wants me with isn't the best idea for me in the end."

"I'm not going to stop you, with whatever it is you're going to be doing, but just make sure you're making the best decision before you go through with anything. The last thing you need is him coming home to you no longer being with him and him not knowing why." Hearing that honestly made Lissa get a little angry; why was Maribelle caring so much about how a guy was going to feel, when her best friend in the world was talking to her about finding new love? But after taking a deep breath, she accepted that Maribelle was just trying to make sure she wasn't going to make any mistakes that she'd regret.

"You got it. I'll let him down easy when he comes home, no surprises at all. I'm sure he sees it coming, anyway, with him not being here and all." Another deep breath, this one to stop herself from getting too excited about what all of this meant for the rest of her evening. "Er, I should let you go now, shouldn't I? I don't want to take up your night out. Just don't worry about me, or your baby, or anyone that's here, and have a good night. We'll be able to talk more later once you're back." Without letting Maribelle get another word in, Lissa hung up and tossed her phone back onto her pillow, that couple minutes of conversation enough to raise her spirits more than she thought possible.

This time when she passed by the slightly-open door to that room, she pushed it open and put her hands on her hips for when Lon'qu looked to see who the intruder was. "You. Me. Downstairs. We've got a lot of talking to do." He looked at her like she was crazy, but stopped whatever he had been doing and followed her down the stairs and back to the living room where the show he'd been watching before was still on. Shrugging, he sat down to resume watching that, but she turned the television off and sat down next to him, giving him enough space so that he wouldn't complain about her being too close. "I don't want you distracting yourself from me by any means whatsoever," she explained, looking him in the eyes with a newfound sense of wonder. "Because let me tell you, I need you to focus on me so we can work things out."

"I was unaware there were problems to begin with," he coldly replied, making motions to get up, but she loudly screeched to get him to stay seated. "Ahem. What is it that we need to talk about, since I suppose I will not be leaving otherwise."

"It's about you. And me. And getting to know each other." She clasped her hands before her and smiled, hoping he'd do anything but look at her with judgmental eyes. But when his expression didn't change, her spirits sank a bit and she frowned. "Come on, it's almost Christmas. Let's just talk until Chrom and the others get home and see how we feel about each other then, okay?" When he didn't give a rebuttal, but instead shrugged with one shoulder and softened his scornful glare a bit, she knew that it was her chance. Hopefully, by the time Chrom came home, she'd know enough about this guy to make her final decision about her romantic life. Either that or she'd be spending every moment until Vaike got home trying to decide on what to do.


A/N: I should probably give a warning as to what's coming next chapter, but...eh. You'll see it.