I should consider writing my other stuff BUT this is almost done and then I can start a new story... Because I am a glutton for writing more than I can reasonably cope with. Obviously.
-YD-
"Mira! Come here you adorable little terror!" Adam had barely landed on two legs before he was demanding to see his niece, who was now a year and a half old and looked more like Ingrid every day. "Mum isn't thrilled about me being gone for another birthday, especially with another three months where I can't even go home." "Yeah, I can imagine. But it's better for you to be here for the rocky times, you aren't a threat to vampires. And then regardless of your choice, you can live your life how you want." Adam nodded, getting an affectionate ear tugging from Mira, who giggled happily when he scrunched his face up in pain. "Definitely Ingrid's daughter." Mira agreeably transferred to Vlad's arms, somehow innately knowing the difference between her father and her uncle from the start. "Dad! Cake!" "Mira, at this rate you'll have no teeth." "Don't care!" Her speech was excellent for a year old girl, but it was mostly spent on her saying no or demanding things. Still, Vlad loved that she was every bit as spirited as her mother.
"After dinner. Then you can have cake." Ever since her first birthday when the girl had discovered cake, it had become a staple part of her diet but Vlad always ensured she ate actual food first, and she certainly burned off the extra energy keeping both parents and both of her uncles on their toes. And admittedly, she did always clean her little milk teeth well. Mira scowled but knew the rule, complaining loudly to her mother when she was say down in the kitchen. "I know, these boring men eh?" Vlad pouted as he helped their daughter eat her dinner, cleaned her face up and then left her to enjoy her child sized portion of cake in favour of kissing his fiance. Mira predictably made unhappy sounds about it - a habit she had picked up from Wolfie, Adam just looked away, or threw something at them when he thought they were getting carried away (which Vlad couldn't help, Ingrid was irresistible).
"Bath time, then bed little lady." "Not tired!" This was the same argument every morning, but Adam offering to read to her today appeased her enough. Ingrid gifted him with a happy smile as he took Mira for her bath, putting her in her favourite pumpkin patterned pyjamas and then tucking her into her coffin shaped bed. Adam offered her a choice of books, so Vlad left the two of them to story time and returned to the kitchen to wrap his arms around Ingrid. "She is absolutely, one hundred percent a tiny version of you." "Mmm. So she's perfect then." "Of course." Ingrid kissed him, smiling happily and it still gave him butterflies. "You're amazing with her." "You doubted me?" She peered around to check they were definitely alone before shaking her head. "I didn't doubt you. I just worried you would resent that she wasn't yours." "Never. And she is mine. Ours. You know what I mean. I couldn't love her more if she had my genes." Ingrid nestled into his arms, just short enough in comparison to him to tuck her head in the crook of his neck - a perfect fit.
"I know. I hate that I even thought it." "I get it, and I promise to always reassure you rather than get upset. We're getting bound in less than a year, I know what I'm letting myself in for. I've known you all my life." Given their 'bet' on Adam's choice, they hadn't gotten bound yet but had agreed on Vlad's 21st birthday - so they only had to suffer one party full of boring, slightly tipsy vampires instead of two - the 21st was the official celebration of Vlad coming of age as head of the clan in spite of that being two years previous by the time the date would happen. "Three years since we filed the contract, people were starting to talk." "They do that." Adam flitted down to them to say Mira was finally asleep before taking himself off to his coffin. "Mmm, that sounds like a good plan." "I only wanted a drink, not mental scarring." Wolfie grumbled as he came into the kitchen, just in time to find them kissing and Vlad's hands slipping under Ingrid's shirt. "Sorry Wolfie. Kitchen is all yours." He and Ingrid dashed off to their coffin, stripping each other quickly and tumbling into the shared sleepspace.
Vlad couldn't deny this was one of his most awaited aspects of Ingrid's 'recovery', tracing fingers down her back and she shivered in pleasure, a world away from when she trembled in fear. She had been sensitive there before, and both of them had disliked the mental block she had for over a year. Now though, now he could scratch his nails gently over her spine and relish the way she whimpered. There were even a few days where they slept spooning rather than with her draped across his chest, depending on how Ingrid felt and whether Vlad remembered to wear the ring of the son so she could look at his hand and remember who was behind her. Letting her decide, Ingrid rolled onto her side and Vlad slotted in behind her, ring securely on his hand so she could settle as he laid his arm over her waist and brushed kisses over her shoulders. "I love you" "love you too, now shut up and let me sleep."
A month into Adam's second three month spell with them, his powers were waning more than they were evident, though he could still flit around most of the time, he couldn't make fireballs or transform into a bat or smoke. "I wonder if part of this is to remind you what it feels like to be human, as opposed to just the two sides at war." Adam was clicking his fingers at a candle, which resolutely stayed unlit. "Maybe. Nobody has ever had the chance to study it in depth, given this is the first generation of legal Dimidius cases ever." "True. I didn't realise how used to my powers I had gotten." They hadn't pressured Adam to talk about his 'choice', but he knew both sides worked - Neil Lecushka proved he could stay a vampire, and they had had one of the dimidius teens step into the sunlight, and the slayers had confirmed they were perfectly human again.
Mira was glaring at the candle on his behalf, as though she could set it alight with her perfect Ingrid-replica scowl. "Burn!" Ingrid laughed at their daughters antics, watching as she gave up and went to play with dog-Wolfie. It was like having the best of an uncle and a pet for the girl, though Zoltan was secretly fond of the girl too. When she wasn't threatening to put itching powder in his stuffing again at least (she had learned that particular trick from her mother). Mira had everyone who met her wrapped around her tiny, evil little finger and she knew it, shoving Wolfie aside to curl up next to him for a very rare night time nap. "Well, I know someone who is having a bath in the morning." "Well it's your turn to bathe her. Which means its my turn to bathe her while you stand aside watching her splash water in my face?" Ingrid didn't shy from parenting, but she seemed to have an intuition to when Mira was about to start throwing water around and back off. "I'm glad you know your place." "I do. Here. With you." Ingrid smirked as he leant down to kiss her, predictably getting lost a little until Adam threw a knight at them. "Chess pieces are not weapons!"
"And in the room with the three of us is not the place to start feeling each other up." Ingrid stuck her tongue out petulantly, groping Vlad in a way that made both him and Adam groan, though for very different reasons. "Oh for bats sake, take her away before she wakes the younglings and traumatises them too." Ingrid didn't give Vlad chance to say otherwise as she flitted them upstairs to their coffin, the desire he had been fighting blazing free now they were alone. Ingrid only seemed to become more attractive to him every day, and Vlad wasn't sure he would ever learn to temper the need he had for her. Though he wasn't complaining, it made for a heated, powerful connection between them. Ingrid did complain when Vlad convinced her into a shower before they went back to their daughter, but her eyes lit up as Mira sleepily muttered "mama" before toddling over to her.
A month until his birthday, minus a heartbeat Adam was almost entirely human for all intents and purposes. He couldn't flit, fly, levitate or flame, his fangs wouldn't descend and he outright refused to drink blood. And he seemed really rather frustrated. "I can't go out in the sun or eat garlic but I can catch a cold and I have to walk everywhere!" "Me too! We can walk together." Mira crawled onto Adam's lap and smiled up at him, cheering her uncle up instantly. "Thanks tiny terror, I'll remember that." Adam had somehow turned Mira into a Harry Potter fan, so that movie went on and Ingrid used the time to paint her nails, the first film still not holding her attention though the further along the series they got, the more attention she tended to pay.
"When can we go back to the PVC?" "V H C Mira. Not PVC." He was going to kill Adam some time for teaching that set of initials to Mira. "Yeah. There." The Council had asked to see the child, as though in spite of setting a date they wanted proof Vlad and Ingrid were actually an item. His favourite reaction was still Mira scrunching her face up and telling Vaskow he smelled funny, though the high pitched sound of joy Hack made when the little girl said hello to him was a close second. "She looks very much like her mother." Vlad had known what Roque was asking, stood apart in the corner but both with eyes firmly on Ingrid holding Mira and talking to Juliana. "Yeah she does. Which is good, I love my daughter dearly but I'm glad Ingrid doesn't have to see anything but our child when she looks at Mira." That was as close as admittance Vlad got, but Roque was intelligent, he could probably have worked out the dates.
"I don't know, Council isn't on for a couple of weeks because we have time off to deal with the Dracula dimidius situation, though obviously if there is some emergency Roque will come and get me." "I like Roque!" It was true, the man's face when Mira literally clambered up onto a chair to be able to tug his sleeve for his attention stuck in Vlad's mind. "He likes you too pumpkin." Mira smiled around her mouthful of cake, thankfully having also inherited Ingrid's natural elegant grace and didn't talk with her mouth full. Ingrid put her to bed, and Vlad could hear her reading to their daughter through the ajar door, smiling to himself as he relaxed waiting for his fiance. "What are you grinning like a fool at?" Opening his eyes to find Ingrid unzipping her dress torturously slowly, he had to fight to remember what she was saying. "Listening to you read to Mira. There is nothing I love more than seeing you with our daughter. My two favourite people in the world." He did concede to Ingrid that the expanse of pale skin she revealed was probably a very close second as she pinned him down and kissed him roughly.
"Well. It's the big night. For starters, happy birthday bro!" Midnight ticked in on Adam's 18th birthday, six hours until he had to make the big decision. Mira helped him blow out the candles on his cake, sat in Adams lap smiling brightly at the huge amount of cake she had easy access to currently. "At least let Adam get to it first you little monster." They all fell about laughing when Mira smushed icing covered cake in Adam's face, then started in on it herself with a malicious giggle. "Well, she did let Adam have cake first technically." Ingrid smirked at their mischievous child, but even she knew to pull Mira away from the cake before she made herself sick while Adam cleaned himself up.
"Come on mini me, lets get you a clean dress." "Ok mama!" The two girls left, and Adam chuckled as Vlad watched them go. "Look at you, still every bit proud father and husband to be." "I can't help it, I love them both so much it hurts." Sipping at his goblet of soya, Vlad cocked his head. "Have you come up with a valid excuse for your mum, or are you just going to drop the "my brother and sister are getting married" bombshell before running away?" Adam laughed, returning with "Jonno can't be your best man again if he doesn't know you're getting married." Flicking a loose bit of icing at Adam, Vlad nodded. "True, but he has his own life to be getting on with now, so it's not like he's the only person I know now and I don't need the slayers at the binding to prove I'm serious about peace. Three years of cease fire and it only keeps getting stronger."
"Do you think Jonno's new baby sister will be raised a slayer too?" "I hope not, but its not my call. I do find it funny his step daughter is older than his sister." "Jonno and Amy aren't married?" "Yet." Ingrid and Mira reappeared by then, the little one no longer plastered with cake. "Dad!" Mira scrambled into his lap, always happy to see him and it warmed his unbeating heart. "Hey beautiful, did you enjoy the cake?" "Yeah!" Ingrid watched them with genuine affection, family life only getting better every day. "Dad, phone!" Vlad's phone was indeed buzzing in his shirt pocket, Sally Giles the caller ID flashing. "It's your mum, I imagine she wants to say Happy Birthday." He handed the phone to his brother then hurried Mira away - now was not the time to have THAT discussion with the humans. "Why we leave?" "So Adam can talk to his mum sweetheart." Mira wrinkled her nose at the endearing term - she much preferred when Adam called her tiny terror.
"Gifts when he's done?" "Yes! You did very well to wait until gone midnight." Mira had been pestering them for a week about giving Adam the gift from her - not fully understanding how birthdays worked yet but today she had waited until midnight. And then got sidetracked by the huge cake. By the time Adam got off the phone fifteen minutes later, Mira was climbing the walls. Well, she was clambering over Vlad and demanding to know where Adam was, but it was the same thing. "Adam's back! At last!" Vlad's body was abandoned as her climbing frame as she slid down and ran to Adam. "Sit! Gift! Now!" "Can't say she didn't learn from the best how to tell people what to do." Ingrid smirked as Mira tugged Adam to the sofa and waited for him to sit down, then handed him a long, thin rectangular box.
"Open it!" Adam chuckled at the demanding toddler, lifting the red ribbon off the black box. Vlad could see the tears rise in his eyes at the photos, ranging from the first ones taken back when he was only fifteen, to him holding baby Mira and playing chess with Wolfie and a few of Vlad, Ingrid and Mira to match. There were fifteen photos in all, including a sweet one of Wolfie and Mira holding "Happy Birthday Adam" signs in the centre. "We might have borrowed your camera." "For this? I forgive you. This is amazing, thank you." "You like it?"" "I love it Mira, thank you." Vlad handed Adam a small box, explaining "technically, tradition states dad should give you this, but in lieu the head of the clan does it" as Adam found Dracula crest cufflinks. "Why thank you Count Dracula." "I will fireball you." Adam grinned cheekily, carefully pinning the cufflinks into place.
Wolfie was still in his room, sad at the idea Adam might not come back to them and pining. Even Mira hadn't been able to convince him out, nor had Adam swearing he would absolutely see them again. "He'll come around, he just got used to this being his life and this is a big change for him. He grows fast but he's still a little boy really." Adam nodded, still looking a little saddened as he fiddled with the dog collar Wolfie wore sometimes. "Come on, Mira is chomping at the bat to get you watching more wizards with her." The two left the kitchen carrying drinks, Mira very happy to get her strawberry punch (Vlad refused to put leeches in it but it looked like mama's glass of blood so she was happy) in the toddler cup with a lid, plus the bat wing shaped handles. Ingrid took her goblet from Vlad happily, leaning against his side and rolling her eyes as Mira sat rapturously watching the movie with Adam.
Six am seemed to creep up on them without notice, Vlad's watch beeping to warn Adam needed to go out for the sunrise. "Three minutes, as soon as the sun hits the sky properly you can't change your choice. I'm not sure it's fitting, but good luck." Adam nodded, walking out of the front door by himself and three minutes had never gone so slowly. Wolfie reappeared at last, whimpering and pawing at the floor anxiously as they waited. Staring at his watch, Vlad counted to one hundred and eighty, feeling the sunrise outside. "I don't hear anything." "He could be dancing for daylight exposure again for all we know." They all jumped a little as Adam reappeared, grinning. "Unlikely big brother, vampires and sun don't mix!" Adam opened his mouth, showing he still had his fangs as Wolfie's daylight change back hit. "Adam!" The half-ling jumped on his 'uncle' (as he had dubbed Adam) happily. "You stayed!"
"I did. I've spent the last two years learning to balance my life, seemed silly to give that up for a suntan and garlic bread. Especially when I didn't eat it that often and I was always pale anyway." Mira was thrilled her uncle could levitate her again, which naturally was celebrated with more cake. "Come on you little terror, bed!" Mira felt spoiled for choice as Wolfie and Adam went to get her cleaned up and ready for bed, her giggles filling the castle as Vlad cleaned the kitchen and kissed Ingrid. "I do believe that means I won the bet." "I am not wearing something heart shaped. Ever." Chuckling, Vlad kissed her again. "You haven't even asked what I want yet." "Because I expect an answer inappropriate for where we could be overheard." Vlad waited, knowing Ingrid would ask anyway. "What do you want?" Pressing his lips to hers again, just because, Vlad winked. "Whatever you want." Ingrid pinched his arm for his cheek, then rolled her eyes. "What the blood and garlic was the point of this bet then?" "I wanted a way to ask if you were planning to stay. Without asking you to stay." "Idiot." "I'm your idiot though."
-YD-
Come on, like I was going to make Adam human!
