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Disclaimer: I don't own anything, not even Ayden or Chiara. Sobs.

Valek POV

The next week passed in a blur of Ayden Chiara drama. Valek could feel himself warming up to both slowly but still didn't feel entirely comfortable every time Ayden threw himself at Valek's legs. Plus, there was the added annoyance of Ayden sleeping in Valek's suit every night; at least the child had his own room now.

Valek noticed how much Yelena loved Ayden and he feared that she might one day want children too. That was something Valek couldn't even fathom, as his own childhood had been so painful. He desperately hopped that Yelena wouldn't confront him about having children. He didn't want to tell her no but he also knew he was nowhere near ready for the responsibility.

One day, Valek walked back for his meeting with the Commander to find Yelena packing. "Where are you going?" He asked, leaning against the doorway, arching an eyebrow.

Yelena looked up and smiled. "Ah, there you are. Vivian and I are going to a lake in Sitia for a girls-only vacation. You and Cai get to take care of Ayden and Chiara." Her eyes danced with mischief and Valek groaned.

"Really? What kind of soul mate are you if you just intend on leaving me alone with those three?" He asked incredulously.

Yelena tilted her head back and laughed. "Hey, you're the master assassin, I'm sure you'll survive." She patted his cheek and stuffed all her clothes into a bag.

Valek sighed. "When are you leaving and coming back?" He asked. At least he wouldn't have to sleep with Ayden anymore since Yelena wouldn't be there.

"Leaving tonight and coming back in four days. Think you can handle that?" Yelena put her hand on her hips and smiled amusedly.

"No." Valek pouted. "When did you come up with this plan? I'd really like to join you for this vacation."

Yelena snickered. "No way. You and Cai can bond. Try to learn how to talk to Ayden too, he really likes you."

Valek rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath. Yelena laughed at him. "Don't worry. I'll be back before you know it. And Vivian and the crew are leaving soon so then we'll have all the time we need to ourselves." She smiled at him, her eyes dancing.

Valek's eyes narrowed. "And how do you know they will be leaving soon?" He asked skeptically.

"Vivian told me." Yelena crossed her arms and grinned back at him.

"She was just trying to guilt trip you into taking a vacation with her. You should refuse." Valek suggested.

Yelena snickered. "Vivian told me you'd be saying that. No. I asked Cai too when they were leaving and he said soon as well."

Valek rolled his eyes. "You do realize that Cai would lie for Vivian, right?" He was totally convinced that Vivian was trying to get back at him for their old feud.

Yelena laughed again, clearly enjoying Valek's discomfort. Valek resolved to kick Vivian out of Ixia very soon; she was quickly corrupting his lover. "Fine, go have fun." He sighed. "I'll be waiting here like yesterday's garbage, waiting for you to pick me up and throw me away." He slumped his shoulders and walked away sadly.

"Aw…" Yelena grabbed his arm and drew him back in the room. "Thank you for letting me go." She smiled and kissed him. "Now let me give you a proper goodbye."

Valek's face split into a grin. Now this was what he was talking about.

The next day, when Valek woke up, he realized that his goodbye with Yelena hadn't been nearly as long as he would like and idly wondered what would happen if he tracked down Yelena and Vivian and interrupted their vacation. He settled on staying in Ixia, Vivian would probably kick him and out, and besides, what was the worst Cai and the kids could do?

He didn't even have to wait for a day to find the answer. When Valek went outside for his early morning training, he saw Ayden running through the legs of fighting soldiers. Cai's soldiers seemed to be used to it and thought of it as an extra challenge to stay focused, but the few Ixian soldiers that had showed up were getting seriously messed up. And that wasn't even the worst part, the worst part was that Chiara was sitting on the ground, grabbing dirt and looking at her brother every now at then as if she wanted to join him.

Cai casually strolled up to Valek. "Let's spar. What do you say?" He asked, his eyes a light blue and an easy smile adorning his face.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea." Valek looked pointedly at Ayden, who was currently hitting an already busy soldier behind the knees with his stuffed sword.

Cai laughed. "Oh, don't worry about him. He'll know to stay away if we get too serious." He handed Valek a sword.

Valek looked at Ayden incredulously and seriously doubted Cai's abilities as a father. "Right…" He said slowly and got into position.

Cai and Valek circled slowly as Valek's eyes danced around to make sure Ayden was far enough away and Chiara hadn't moved from her spot on the ground. The sparring slowly sped up and Valek flitted to the right, hoping to get a clear shot at Cai's side. Cai's body curved and Valek narrowly missed, jumping back just in time to stay clear of Cai's aim at his thigh. As both Valek and Cai slowly got into their zones, their movements sped up and their attacks became fiercer. Soon, the sounds of their swords clashing drowned out the sounds of everything else.

Suddenly, as Valek was bringing his sword down fast and hard at Cai's shoulder, Cai moved back and Chiara's head appeared out of nowhere. Valek tried to stop the momentum of his sword but ended up changing the angle so it narrowly missed Chiara's head but sliced Valek's thigh instead. He let out a loud curse and hissed as he applied pressure to the wound.

He looked up, ready to yell at Chiara for popping out of nowhere but saw that it was, in fact Ayden who was holding her up between the two men and Cai was now frantically trying to get something out of Chiara's mouth. She looked a little pale and Valek wondered if she'd been choking.

He slowly moved toward Cai as he tried to pry Chiara's mouth open. "What happened?" Valek asked.

"Ayden said Chiara was eating a bug, I think she swallowed it." Valek tried to hold back his disgust but even Cai looked a little green. Cai managed to open his daughter's mouth and put one hand over his own to stop from puking as he slid a finger down her through to induce vomit.

Chiara promptly retched out everything she'd been eating onto her father's face, shoulders and chest. Valek thanked fate that he was not in range of her projectile bile. Ayden squealed out in disgust and dropped Chiara, causing her to start screaming and crying as she hit the ground. Thank fate Ayden had only been holder her two inches above the ground. Cai looked absolutely miserable as he tried to clean up himself and get her daughter under control.

Valek took a deep breath and decided to be a good cousin-in-law and finally help out. He picked up the screaming, disgusting little girl in one arm and gave Cai a towel with the other hand. "I'm going to take her to the medic to get cleaned up. Join me when you can." He said, trying to touch Chiara as little as possible.

The medic took one look at Chiara and told Valek to give her to one of the new helpers. Valek couldn't help but feel sorry for whoever would have to clean Chiara up. "And what happened to you?" The medic asked Valek, raising an eyebrow.

"Knife cut." Valek said shortly and waited patiently for the medic to bring him some salve. Once the medic was done, Valek checked on Chiara to make sure she was okay before heading to the bath. After cleaning himself up, he started to feel guilty about leaving his niece with a stranger and went to check on her again.

Thankfully, by the time he got back, Cai and Ayden were there, both cleaned up and looking much better. When Ayden saw Valek, he let go of his father's hand and run to Valek, hugging his injured thigh. Valek valiantly restrained himself from cursing and throwing the little boy off as pain shot through his leg. "Please…stop." Valek gritted out and pried Ayden away.

Ayden looked up at Valek, his little face full of hurt and he mumbled something quietly before trying to slink away. Valek cursed his softening heart and picked up Ayden. "It's ok. I'm just injured there." Valek explained, knowing full well that Ayden didn't understand what was being said. But Ayden seemed to realize that Valek wasn't angry and this revelation brought a big smile to the boy's face. Valek smile back but quickly stopped when Ayden hugged his neck…or tried to cut off his air supply.

Cai approached Valek, holding a sleeping Chiara in his arms; he looked equally exhausted. "Thank you Valek." He said tiredly and smiled as he saw Ayden in Valek's arms. "You can put Ayden down, I think we're all going to take a nap, it's been a long morning."

Valek seconded that notion but he could see that Ayden would not be able to nap. That boy was just too full of energy. Against his better judgment, Valek offered to keep Ayden. "He can stay with me. Neither of us is really tired, I'll keep him occupied with my obstacle course skills." Valek smiled and swatted Ayden's hand away from his hair.

Cai frowned skeptically. "Are you sure?" He asked.

Valek nodded. "Yes. How long do you plan on napping? I'm sure we'll survive two hours together."

Cai nodded gratefully. "Thanks again."

While Valek was beginning to accept his love for Ayden, he began to realize that babysitting him would be no easy task. Simply on the way back to his suite, Ayden refused to get down from his arms and instead, crawled up to his shoulders and used Valek's hair for stability.

The moment Valek managed to get back in his room and pry the child off his head, a messenger came in and told him the Commander wished to see him. Valek had no choice but to take Ayden along. With Ayden's sense of curiosity, he'd probably end up breaking all of Valek's statues.

When Valek entered the room to talk to the Commander, he was met with raised eyebrows and a small smirk. "Don't ask." Valek groaned and sat in a chair, allowing Ayden to run around and try to steal pens off the table.

By the time dinner rolled around, Valek was exhausted. Ayden had refused to go back to his father the whole day and Valek was relieved that Cai had finally put his foot down and was dragging his son back to their suite for the night. Why had he ever thought he'd be able to take care of this kid?

A LITTLE SHORTER THAN USUAL BUT DID YOU HAVE FUN? NEXT CHAPTER'S GONNA BE KID-FILLED AS WELL. PLEASE DROP A REVIEW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK. OR ANY FUNNY CHILDHOOD STORIES YOU MAY HAVE ;)