Chapter 44: Aim-Aim, Vy-Vy, and Vee-Vee

When Adrian and I got back to the kitchen, we found everyone waiting for us. Carly was sitting next to Violet, her arm around the girl's shoulder, and Amy was holding Ivy in her lap. Zoe was standing by the door, a watchful look on her face.

"Everything ok?" Zoe asked.

"I think so," I said. "You guys?"

"Fine," Zoe said.

"Fine," Amy said.

I looked over at Amy. "You taking good care of Ivy?" I asked.

Amy nodded. "I thought in case the grownups had to fight, Vy-Vy and I could hide with Ivy until the bad guys went away," she said.

"Good plan," I said.

Adrian bent down to give Amy a kiss on the cheek. "You know," he remarked. "Ivy looks very happy right now."

"She's not smiling," Amy said.

"She's too little to smile," Adrian said. "She hasn't learned how to yet. But I can tell from her aura that she feels happy and safe with you."

"Oh," Amy said, surprised. "Maybe she knows I'm her sister." She looked down at the baby. "Hi, Ivy. I'm your big sister Aim-Aim. Do you know me?"

"She must know who you are," Adrian said.

"Maybe because she likes being with other dhampirs," Amy said, a touch of pride in her voice. "Right, Ivy? Us dhampirs have to stick together."

Adrian and I both looked over Violet. "How are you doing, Miss Purple?" Adrian asked.

"Fine," Violet said, in her grave little voice.

I sat down next to Violet and she immediately climbed into my lap. "Hi, baby," I said.

"Do you want to hold Ivy a little, too?" Adrian asked Violet.

Violet shook her head silently.

"Maybe later," I said. "When you feel like it."

Adrian and Zoe were sitting back down at the table when the front door slammed. A moment later my father entered the room, his cheeks a little red from the cold. "He's gone," he said without preamble. "I watched his car drive away. You ok, Sydney?"

"I'm fine, Dad," I said.

"Why did you go outside?" Amy asked. "You can see from inside."

"I waited by his car, just in case," Dad said.

"In case what?" Amy asked.

"In case he decided to take your mother to the car," Dad said. "Or in case there was someone else in the car. But there wasn't. Everything is ok now."

"That's good," Amy said. "Isn't it, Ivy?"

There was a long silence then, which Ivy broke with a delicate little burp. I couldn't help it – I laughed. It was just such a funny little noise. Everyone else laughed as well and some of the tension evaporated.

"Can I have some more pie?" Violet asked.

"Sure," I said.

"Can I have ice cream on my pie?" Violet asked.

"Yes," Adrian said, getting up to go to the freezer. "In fact, you can have ice cream on your ice cream."

While Adrian made the girls giggle by happily scooping large quantities of ice cream on everyone's plates, Zoe leaned close to me and murmured, "Is everything really ok?"

"I think so," I said. "I mean, I hope so."

"What did Ethan want?"

Quickly, I summarized the conversation.

"Wow," Zoe said, when I was done. "Maybe Ethan isn't as much of a donkey as I thought he was."

"Maybe," I said. "It's nice to hope."

"Mommy?" Violet asked, tapping me on the shoulder. "What does scrutiny mean?"

"It means, 'careful examination,'" I said. "Looking at something very closely."

Violet considered that. "What does it mean that you shielded Amy from scrutiny?"

I drew in a slow breath as Amy looked up sharply. "It's a long story," I said. "Don't worry about it."

"Is it a secret?" Violet asked.

"No," I said. "It's just complicated."

Violet licked the ice cream from her spoon. "Well, if it's not a secret you can tell me."

Adrian spoke up. "It just means that your mom didn't want everyone to know that Amy was a dhampir, right when she was born," he said.

"Because people don't like dhampirs?" Violet said.

"Yes," Adrian said. "That's all it means."

"But how did Mommy hide it?" Violet asked.

"She just didn't tell anyone that I was Amy's dad," Adrian said. "So then it was ok."

"They thought my other dad was really her dad," Violet said.

"Yes," I said. "So she was safe."

Amy began stabbing her pie crust with her spoon. "Let's talk about something else," she said. "Like, anything other than how people don't like dhampirs."

"That sounds like a good idea," Carly said, brightly. "Why don't you girls tell us all about your karate class?"

"We already told you," Violet said.

"Tell me more," Carly said.

"We didn't tell them about the ceremony when we got yellow belt," Amy said, and launched into a description of the event.

Adrian and I exchanged glances surreptitiously once everyone's attention was focused on Amy. My quickie marriage to Rick wasn't exactly a child-friendly topic, and didn't paint anyone in the best light. I knew Adrian was as worried as I was that the issue would come back, but luckily for us, the girls seemed to have forgotten all about it.

Once we were done with dessert, we all settled happily in the living room to chat some more about light topics. Carly and Zoe dug around in the attic for a few minutes and came down with an armload of old board games. We selected Monopoly and the girls settled down on the floor with Adrian and my sisters. I was too tired to play, but I sat nearby, holding Ivy and cheering everyone on. My father sat at his desk, pulverizing minerals and roots for use in alchemist techniques.

It was a fun hour or so, with everyone hanging out together as if nothing momentous or life-changing had happened over the last 24 hours. But then, just as Adrian was trying to negotiate a double mortgage of Boardwalk and Park Place, Ivy began to cry. I offered her my breast, but she wasn't hungry. She didn't need to be changed, and she didn't seem to be too warm or too cold. I picked her up and began to jiggle her around a little, humming a soft tune, but she seemed to just cry harder.

"Give her to me," Adrian suggested, getting up. "Maybe she just needs a change of scenery."

"No, give her to me," Violet said, unexpectedly, and got up from the floor and sat on one of the chairs, holding out her arms.

Adrian and I glanced at each other. He shrugged, and I put the squealing baby carefully in Violet's arms, showing her how to support the tiny head and neck. Violet looked down at her baby sister without comment. Then she offered Ivy her finger, which Ivy reflexively grabbed with her tiny fist. All of us were watching the pair of them, not sure what would happen next.

"Hmm," Violet said, after a few moments. "I see."

Ivy took a few hiccuping gulps and then continued to cry.

"Yes, that isn't good," Violet said. "I feel like that sometimes, too."

Ivy finished the wail she had started, but then stared up at Violet as if seeing her for the first time. For two or three seconds, the infant was completely silent. Then she let out a few more experimental sobs.

"Yes, of course," Violet said, when Ivy paused to draw breath. "That's normal. I'm sorry about it, though."

Ivy let out exactly three tiny sobs, then stopped crying again.

Violet nodded at her. "Totally," she said.

I stared at my two daughters as Violet continued to articulate half of what seemed like a good conversation. Finally, Violet said, "Do you want to keep crying, or do you want to hang out with us while we play Monopoly?"

Ivy let out a soft little gurgle.

Violet nodded. "Good choice," she said. "You can be on the team with me and Aunt Zoe." Carefully, Violet got to her feet, still holding Ivy, then sat back down on the floor with the now-calm baby in her lap. Belatedly, she seemed to notice all of us looking at her. "What?" she said, embarrassed.

"Did you... understand what she was saying?" Carly asked.

Violet stared around at us. "Of course not," she said. "She was just crying little baby cries. Not words."

"But you acted as if you understood her," I pointed out gently.

"Well, I mean, like, I understood her," Violet said. "Didn't you?"

"Not really," I said.

Violet shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "She felt like... I don't know. Like how I used to feel when I cried at night." She colored slightly. "That was a long time ago, though. I was little then."

"Right," Adrian said. "You've grown at least three inches since then."

"I think maybe four," Violet said.

Considering that the events in question had taken place about six months ago, I highly doubted either measurement, but I let it slide. "So she felt just sort of... sad?" I asked.

"I guess," Violet said. "Sad and mad and bad. Not for any reason. Just because... this place is weird and new to her. At least, that's what I think."

There was a short silence in the room, and then Amy said, "You're so weird, Vy-Vy."

"You're weird," Violet said. "You're much weirder than me."

Amy shook her head. "You're the weirdest one of all of us," she said.

"Am not," Violet said, eyes filling with tears. "I'm normal."

"Ok, ok, you're normal," Amy said, relenting a little. "Don't cry, Vy-Vy."

"I'm the normalest one," Violet said, still sniffling. "Adrian said so."

"Yes," Adrian said, gently. "That's true. I said that. Anyway, what's important right now is, are you guys going to let me mortgage Boardwalk and Park Place?"

"They're already mortgaged," Zoe said, picking up the conversational ball. "You can't mortgage them again."

"Tell the National Bank of America that," Adrian said. "My father has two or three mortgages out on some of his homes."

"Well here, we play by the rules of Monopoly, not real banks," Zoe said.

Violet sniffed again and wiped her eyes. "Adrian, you can borrow money from me," she said. "I have lots of these orange ones."

"That's because you're kicking our butts," Adrian said.

"I'm good at Monopoly," Violet said, with satisfaction.

As the conversation went back to the game, I looked up to notice my dad staring down at Violet. He'd been so quiet during this whole conversation that I had almost forgotten he was here. But when I tried to catch his eye he looked away.


It had been a long day, and all of us decided to get to bed pretty early. Carly hugged each of us goodbye and went home to her apartment, and then Adrian and I got the girls set up to sleep in Carly's old room, reading them a few stories and tucking them in. I nursed Ivy again and got her down to sleep while Adrian visited with a feeder whom Zoe had arranged to come to the house. Then once all three of my daughters were asleep, Adrian and I said a quick goodnight to my father and went to bed ourselves. I meant to bring up the subject of Violet's odd "conversation" with Ivy, but I must have fallen asleep while Adrian was brushing his teeth, because the next thing I knew, it was the middle of the night and a small, bleating cry was pulling me from sleep.

I sat up with a start. "Ivy," I murmured, and got out of bed as quickly as I could. Adrian was sprawled next to me, his arm over my waist possessively, and I had to push him aside on my way to the baby. I'd hoped he would sleep through it, but as I got to Ivy's crib, I heard Adrian's sleepy grunt.

"She hungry?" he murmured as I lifted her from her crib.

"Think so," I said, then added to Ivy, "Are you, sweetheart?" I sat down in the rocking chair and began opening my bathrobe.

Adrian literally crawled out of bed and across the floor to my side. He put one hand on my leg and leaned his head on my lap. "Is she eating?" he asked.

"Like a champ," I said.

For a few moments, we sat in silence while Ivy nursed. Then Adrian said, "I was having the weirdest dream."

"Good or bad?"

"In some ways, good," Adrian said. "You were in it, so that's good."

"Oh yeah?" I said, smiling. "Was it one of those dreams?"

"Parts of it," he said. "But other parts... I don't know. We were... back in Palm Springs, I guess. The time back when we were still getting to know each other. You were going to classes and I was at that apartment... Only we were other places too, like, oh, I don't know... Rome, Venice, Portugal, Crete... I don't know where we were. But we were in Palm Springs too." He shook his head. "Dream logic, I guess."

"Were the girls there?" I asked.

"No," Adrian said. "They... didn't exist. Well, didn't exist yet," he amended. "You and I were still too young. But Eddie and Jill were there. But for a while, you were gone, and Jill too. I had to find you. Both of you. It was hard. You were... far away. In trouble."

"Did you find me?"

"I did, eventually," he said. "But there was still something wrong with you. Something..." He screwed up his face, trying to remember. "Something that made me really sad."

"Did I hurt you or something?" I asked, curious. Usually other people's dreams weren't that interesting, but something about the way Adrian was talking was drawing me in.

"More like you were hurting yourself," Adrian said. "I don't know. I can't remember now. It was breaking my heart. And there was something about a forest. There was this beautiful forest, and it was important."

"Important how?"

"I can't explain it," Adrian said. "You had lost something in the forest, something really important, and you had to find it, but I didn't want you to find it because I thought it would kill you."

"That sounds scary," I said. For a split second, I thought I could see it, too. A forest, maybe of pine trees. And something just out of reach. Something... or someone... behind a tree? I shivered, then looked back down at Ivy. She was still drinking hungrily.

"It was a little scary," Adrian said. "But the thing in the forest wasn't like, a monster or anything. It was something... well, something good in some ways. I loved it, whatever it was. But I thought it would kill you if you found it."

"It sounds... intense," I said, for lack of a better comment. "And confusing."

"Yeah," Adrian said. He sighed. "It seemed really real to me, though." He let out a little laugh. "I always wonder with dreams like that. I mean, don't you? Like, maybe that's the reality, and this life is a dream."

"This does kind of feel like a dream," I said, smiling at him. "You and me together..."

Adrian smiled at me, then frowned a little. "Oh, no, Syd – " He grabbed a small cloth from the changing table and brought it to my side, just in time for Ivy to spit up a little, right into the cloth.

"Good timing," I said, appreciatively.

"I saw her aura do that same thing right before she spat up last time," he said, as he gave me a clean cloth and tossed the dirty one in the hamper.

"Early warning system," I said, looking down at Ivy. "Well, I guess that means you had enough?" I said to her. Then I cleaned her tiny face and then leaned her over my shoulder to burp her.

"She ate a lot, huh?" Adrian asked.

"A good amount for her," I said, patting her back. "She's a dhampir, after all. She's going to grow fast."

"Here, let me," Adrian said, taking the baby from my arms very gently. He began to absent-mindedly pat her back. After a moment or two, I saw his eyes travel to my chest and realized I hadn't covered up after I'd finished feeding Ivy. I met his eyes as he looked back up at my face, but I didn't cover myself. Adrian smiled and said, "So, does it taste good, you think?"

"The milk?" I asked, surprised.

"Well, yes," he said.

"I have no idea," I said. "I've never tasted human milk – well, that I remember."

"Hmm," he said. "Guess not. I guess she likes it, anyway. I read that infants have a strong preference for mother's milk over any other liquid."

"Instinct, I guess," I said.

"Could be," he said, glancing down at my breast again. "But maybe it really does taste good. It's high in sugars and proteins... Like blood, actually, in some ways."

I caught his eye. "Are you saying you want to try some?"

"I wouldn't turn it down," he said, carefully.

"Hmmm," I said. "Maybe once we're back in Philly."

"Some night when we get a sitter for the girls," he said. "And I take you to a nice hotel. But I guess not tonight." He reached over to gently close my robe, then winked, discharging some of the sensual feel of the moment. Then Ivy burped, a quite loud burp for such a tiny baby, and we both laughed.

"She takes after her father," I said.

"Yes, she does," Adrian said, proudly. He gave the baby a noisy kiss on the forehead, then took her over to the changing table to quickly put her into a clean diaper and clean clothes. When he was done, he put her down in her crib and went to wash his hands.

While he was gone, I thought about it. Adrian at my breast... When Ivy nursed it was the most innocent, pure thing in the world. The thought of Adrian doing something so similar made my heart beat faster. Maybe we could do that sometime, I thought. I didn't have to decide right now.

The door opened and Adrian came back in, but he didn't get right back into bed. He stood in the doorway as if listening to something. Then he spoke in a whisper. "Someone's crying," he said. "At first I thought it was Violet again but now I think it's Amy. Do you want to go check, or should I?"

I was already on my feet, thoughts of a romantic night with Adrian vanishing instantly in my concern for my daughter. "I'll go," I said. I tied my bathrobe tightly shut, gave Adrian a quick kiss on the cheek, and then tiptoed as quietly as I could down the hall toward Carly's old room. As I got closer, I heard one little stifled sob, and recognized it as Amy's. I turned the knob slowly and pushed open the door.

Violet was sleeping peacefully, Elephanty tucked under one arm. Amy wasn't in bed, and I looked around a little until I saw her sitting on the floor trying to read by the light of a nightlight. She looked up as I entered and reflexively wiped at her cheek. I wondered for a moment if it was just the book making her cry, and then I noticed it was a book of jokes and riddles. My heart gave a little lurch as I remembered doing the same thing myself as a child. Sad, lonely, ignored... I used to read books by the nightlight to cheer myself up.

"Come here," I whispered to Amy, gesturing, and she got up and came to my side, her face a little defiant as if she were expecting a reprimand. She seemed surprised when I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her forehead. "Let's go downstairs," I whispered, and she nodded. We went downstairs, hand in hand, and I remembered some of the nights after Carly's assault, when I had gone to her room to check on her and we had gone downstairs together for late night snacks. Amy was almost as tall now as Carly was then, but I knew that for all her bravado, she was still just a little girl.

I turned on the kitchen lights and gestured for Amy to sit down at the table, which she did. I filled two mugs with milk and stuck them in the microwave, then began digging around in the cabinets for cocoa powder. I found some behind a few jars of alchemist supplies, and wondered if it was Zoe or my father who has been sneaking late night cocoas.

When the microwave beeped, I mixed up the sweet hot drink and brought the mugs to the table. I put one in front of Amy, who looked at it with dismay. Sighing, I got up and got some whipped cream from the fridge and put almost as much on Amy's cocoa as Adrian would have. She smiled and began drinking, and when she put the mug down, her face was streaked with whipped cream.

"So," I said, softly. "Want to tell me what's going on?"

"Nothing," she said. "I just couldn't sleep. I thought you were going to yell at me for being out of bed."

"I was checking on you," I said, wiping the whipped cream from her cheeks with my finger. "I wanted to know why you were crying."

"I wasn't crying," she said.

"Well, if you had been crying," I said, "what would you have been crying about?"

"I don't know," she said. "Nothing."

"It's been a busy few days," I said. "I'd think maybe you had a few things to cry about." Amy looked down at her cocoa but didn't say anything. "I know things worked out ok in the end," I said, "but it must have been very upsetting to have your grandfather act the way he did."

"I don't know," she said again. "He's ok. He's trying. I think maybe... maybe I'll forgive him."

"That's good," I said. "You never really were one to hold grudges."

"Not like Vy-Vy," Amy said, smiling. "She'll be mad until the cows go home."

"Probably," I said. "I wonder if Ivy will hold grudges, like Violet, or forgive people, like you do."

Amy shrugged, the animation leaving her face. "Whatever," she said.

I paused. The moment that Ivy's name had come up, Amy's demeanor had changed completely. Carefully, I asked, "Are you upset about Ivy?"

"No," she said, unconvincingly. "Why would I be?"

"It can be hard sometimes, to accept a new sibling," I said. "I mean, we had things pretty much figured out with the four of us. Now there's someone else. And right now, she isn't much fun. All she really does is eat, cry, and sleep."

"And poop," Amy said, making a disgusted face.

"Yeah, and poop," I said. "So it's ok if you're not sure how you feel about her yet. Probably you'll start to like her better as she gets older and starts to do things like smile and crawl and talk."

Amy looked up at me. "I know," she said. "I just..." She trailed off, sighing.

"What?"

"I'm just a little..."

"What?"

"It's stupid, never mind."

"If it's upsetting you, it's not stupid," I said.

Amy looked down at her cocoa. "I love Ivy," she said. "Already. She's my sister."

"Of course," I said. "I know that you're a good big sister."

"But..."

"But?"

"But I'm a little jealous of her," she whispered.

I didn't let myself react to this. "Any particular reason why?" I asked.

"She gets Dad from the beginning," Amy said. "Her real, awesome, Adrian-Dad, from the first day, telling her he loves her, and not... like... yelling at her when she tears her new tights or whatever, like You-Know-Who used to do."

I considered that. "You're right," I said. "In a lot of ways, it doesn't seem fair."

"And Adrian gets to have her from the beginning, too. All those baby things he didn't get with me. So, I don't know. Like, maybe he won't, like, need me anymore."

"Oh, sweetheart," I said. "That's not how it works at all. One child never replaces another. Ever."

"But she's little," Amy said. "She's tiny and a baby and cute everything. And Violet, too. She's still little and cute. I'm big and tall and he can't even really pick me up anymore.

"No one will replace you with Adrian," I said. "He loves you for who you are now. You're smart, and funny, and generous, and kind. I think he looks forward to his Daddy Days with you just as much as he'd look forward to a party with his friends."

"No," she said, softly. "No way."

"Yes way," I said. "He thinks you're the bees knees, the cat's pajamas, the tippy-top."

"Even so," she said. "I just think... ." Her face crumpled and she stopped talking. For a moment she struggled to regain control.

"What is it, baby?" I asked, moving a little closer to her.

"I just think that maybe it would have been easier for everyone if I hadn't ever been born," she said, in a tiny, tight whisper.

"Oh honey, no," I said. "That's not true at all. I can't even imagine life without you."

"But if I was never born you wouldn't miss me," she said. "Everything would be easier."

"I'd miss you," I said, tears coming into my eyes. "I'd miss you every day and wonder what was so wrong with my life. There'd be an Amy shaped hole in the middle of everything."

"But if there was no me, then you wouldn't have had to marry Rick Resnick," Amy said.

"Amy," I said, in a soft exhalation of air. "Don't think like that."

"It's true, though," she said. "I heard what Uncle Ethan was saying to you in the front hall. He basically said that you married Rick because of me. I ruined everything."

"That's impossible," I said. "Everything would be ruined without you."

Amy wiped at her eyes. "Without me," she said, "you wouldn't have had to marry Rick and be sad. And then maybe Adrian could have found you faster. And maybe he could have been Violet's father. And you'd still have Violet and Ivy and you'd be happy."

"Adrian or no Adrian," I said. "Life without you would be all wrong."

"I think you would have been happier," she said, in a high pitched voice. "I know Rick was even meaner to you than he was to me. If it wasn't for me..."

I pulled her onto my lap – no easy task since she was so tall for her age. I leaned her against my shoulder almost as I had done with Ivy a few minutes ago. "I loved you from the minute I knew you were there," I said. "I made my decisions because I loved you and wanted you. Not because I had to or someone made me or anything. Because I wanted you in my life. And I'm so happy I have you. So please, don't worry about things that you had no control over. I'm the one who married Rick. Blame me, not yourself."

"But..."

"No buts on this one," I said. "I knew from the moment you were conceived how great you were. And it was all worth it, any pain I went through, because you're here and safe now. I would have gone through twice or three times any sadness I went through, to have you."

"You could have been with Adrian all along," she whispered. "You would have been happy."

"Let's get something straight," I said. "Of course I love Adrian. He's my husband. But you are my daughter. You're my number one. You're the love of my life. You and Violet and Ivy."

"Ok," Amy said, in a choked whisper, and was quiet for a long time.

"And we're all together now," I murmured, after a bit. "Haven't things been great for the past year or so?"

"Really great," Amy said. "That's true."

"They're going to be different with little Ivy now, but still, we'll all be together."

"Ivy's so lucky," Amy said. "She gets to have Adrian as her Dad from the first day."

"She is lucky," I said. "She gets you as a big sister."

Amy was quiet for a while longer, her cheek against my shoulder. Finally, she said, "How long until Ivy can... do stuff? Like talk and stuff?"

"She'll start smiling in a few months. And giggling and stuff. She'll start crawling and trying to stand a few months after that."

"Hmm," Amy said.

"She's probably going to just adore you," I said. "When she's five, you'll be almost old enough to drive. She'll tell all the kids at kindergarten that she has a really cool big sister who can beat them up if they're mean to her."

"I wouldn't beat up a kindergartener," Amy said, horrified.

"Of course you wouldn't," I laughed. "But they wouldn't know that. You'll be able to take her for car rides and out to ice cream and all sorts of stuff. She'll think the moon rises and sets with you, I'll bet."

"We can do dhampir stuff together," Amy said.

"True," I said. "But be sure not to leave Violet out of things."

Amy made a scoffing sound. "She's already more in than I am," she said. "With her thing she does."

I paused. "Thing?" I said. I was remembering about Violet's weird "conversation" with Ivy earlier that night.

"Yeah," Amy said. "I think she doesn't know what 'feel' means. She thinks 'feel' with your hand means the same as 'feel' like 'feel sad' or 'feel angry.' It's weird but then she... you know. Feels people."

"Like Daniella," I said, thinking back to Hawaii.

"Yeah," Amy said. "She does that all the time. Didn't you notice?"

I thought about it. I had always known that Violet was sensitive, that she picked up on emotions no matter what I did to try to hide them. She also was always most easily reassured by touch – a hug, a hand-hold, a kiss. "I guess I had noticed it without really noticing it," I said, slowly, then pulled my attention back to the matter at hand. "But we're not talking about Violet," I said. "We're talking about you and how much we all love you and want you around."

"God, Mom," Amy said. "You're so cheesy." But she stayed right where she was, cuddled up on my lap.

We were still sitting there a few minutes later when Adrian came into the kitchen. "Everything ok here?" he asked softly.

"We're fine," I said.

Adrian casually picked up my mug of hot cocoa, which I'd barely touched, and drank most of it in a single gulp. He then burped loudly, making Amy laugh. "I gotta teach you how to burp someday," Adrian said.

"I already know how," Amy said.

"No, I mean, really burp," Adrian said. "So you burp louder than any of the boys. So you can burp the whole alphabet."

Amy giggled. "That'd be cool," she said.

"Um, yeah," I said. "Sure. Cool."

"Is Ivy ok?" Amy asked Adrian.

"She's fine," he said. "She went back to sleep."

"Ivy," Amy repeated, thoughtfully. "Eye-Eye? Hmm. That sounds weird. Maybe... Vee-Vee." She smiled, thoughtfully. "Yes. Vy-Vy and Vee-Vee."

"That's a great nickname," I said, smiling.

"And what about you?" Adrian said, lifting Amy up from my lap. "How are you?" She giggled again as he spun her around in in a circle. "That's my tiny baby A-mazing," he said, affectionately.

"I'm not tiny or a baby," Amy said.

"Well, you're the smallest you'll ever be," Adrian said. "Like, you're just going to get bigger. So let me have my moment."

Adrian leaned Amy down so that I could kiss her goodnight, and then he carried her upstairs and to tuck her back into bed. I rinsed out the cocoa mugs and then went back upstairs, meeting Adrian in the hall as we went into our room.
"Eventful night," Adrian said, closing the door behind us."I guess every night will be eventful for a few months," I said, gesturing to the crib."Yes," Adrian said, as we both got into bed. "Though hopefully not as eventful."
"Is Amy ok now?" I asked."She seems fine," Adrian said. "We didn't really talk, though. Did she tell you what she had been crying about?"

"She just... she made the connection between her birth and my marrying Rick," I said.

"Oh, no," Adrian said, with a groan. "I guess she was going to figure it out sooner or later but..."

"Yeah, I'd hoped it'd be later," I said. "Much later."

"What did you tell her?"

"That I loved her and that she shouldn't be upset about choices I made for her."

"Sounds legit," Adrian said. "She ok?"

"More or less," I said. "She's also a little jealous about Ivy maybe stealing the spotlight."

"I thought it might be something like that," Adrian said. "Thought she might like a little bit of a cuddle from Dad."

"She needed a cuddle from each of us. I think I'm going to hug her like crazy as often as I can for the next few weeks at least."

"She'll hate that," Adrian said, laughing.

"I know," I said, laughing a little too.

"You're so cheesy," Adrian said, in an imitation of Amy's whine.

"Too bad," I said. "Going to hug you anyway!" I tackled Adrian and we rolled around for a few minutes, laughing. Then when we fell back on the bed, panting, I said, softly, "So, um..."

"Yes?"

"Should we talk about Violet?"

"About her... thing?" Adrian said.

"Yeah," I said. I sat up a little and Adrian and I looked at each other for a few moments silently.

Then Adrian said, "Well, we always knew she was a special kid, right?"

"Yeah," I said.

"We'll see," Adrian said. "Maybe she's not... you know."

"Empathic," I supplied.

"Right," Adrian said. "Maybe she really is just sensitive and sweet. Or... maybe she inherited as much magic from you as Amy did from me. We'll just have to wait and see."

"We both know that she's something special," I said, softly.

"Well, that was obvious from the first day I met her," Adrian said.

I settled back down in bed with him, and we pulled the covers up around us. "What if she's really..." I said, but wasn't sure how to continue.

"We'll figure it out as we go along," Adrian said. "After all, it's not as if she's any weirder than me. I'm a vampire, for god's sake."

I laughed again. "True," I said. "And her sisters are both dhampirs."

"Two dhampirs, an empath, a witchy alchemist, and a Moroi," Adrian said. "It sounds like a superhero team. The five of us should team up and fight crime or something. Get matching suits."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes, definitely," he said. "We'll be The Fighting Ivashkovs. Blue and green spandex outfits. But no capes. That's important – no capes. Capes can kill."

"I'll bear that in mind," I said.

"Bear this in mind, too," Adrian said, and gave me a lingering kiss.

A/N: Ok, I've said this before but I really think there's only two more chapters – well, one or two more chapters and an epilogue. I know this was a sort of disjointed chapter but I'm picking up the loose ends as best I can!