Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and the kids.
Summary: How is it that with one word, our children can make all our troubles go away? After a terrible day, Charlie comes home to his darling wife and his dirty son.
A/N: Okay, this one is happy! Will everyone stop crying now???
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Bliss
Charlie Weasley was covered from head to toe in soot and slime. The adolescent dragon he was training had gotten quite ornery with him. On top of that, his boss had chastised him for being late again.
He looked down at his soiled clothes and grimaced. He knew that Cassie hated it when he came home filthy, so he hastily cast several Cleaning Charms on himself before he Apparated to their house.
Cassie was sitting in her easy chair reading while young Alexander played on the floor. Her pixie brown hair shined in the firelight, and her big brown eyes danced across the pages she was reading. Cassie had spread his quilt on the hard, stone floor, and Alex had his toys spread all over it. He seemed most interested in his stuffed hippogriff, a gift from his Uncle Ron.
Unfortunately, Alex had apparently been playing outside earlier in the day. He had dirt and grass caked onto his clothes, and Charlie could see the same mud on the bottom of his tiny, bare feet.
Cassie smiled sympathetically up at him. "I'm sorry you had a bad day, love," she said, closing her book.
"How'd you know?" Charlie asked tiredly.
"It came to me last night," she explained simply before reaching up to hug and kiss him. She traced her index finger across a burn on his cheek.
"Did you get him trained?" she asked.
Charlie shook his head. "Not yet, though by the end of the day, he'd stopped breathing fire on my head and opted for my arms."
He hugged Cassie tightly to him and breathed in the apple scent from her hair. Charlie was not the laziest Weasley, in that he tried to get out of work. But when it came to romance, he never took the time. He was so relieved to be chosen for the Ministry-arranged marriages a year ago; he was even more relieved to be matched with Cassie, a lovely Scottish woman, who, coincidentally, was a Seer.
The minute she told Charlie of her vision of marrying a redheaded man, he was smitten. Since then, they had been inseparable. They'd been the first of the Weasleys to marry but the last to conceive their first child, although not for a lack of trying. Alexander had been born five days before their first anniversary.
Now, two years later, he was an adventurous little boy who was his father's clone. Alex was small, round and covered in freckles, and his red hair was curly. Cassie often joked that she didn't need to see baby pictures of Charlie because she could look at Alex for reference.
Charlie finally released Cassie from his arms, and he kissed her nose. "And how was your day?"
"Oh, fine," she said with a yawn. "Alex managed to bring in half the compost pile with him this afternoon, but I did manage to finish those reports for your brother. I Owled them to him just before you came home."
Cassie continued to work with the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and she reported directly to Percy. This left her with the luxury of working from home.
"How about a glass of Tuica before dinner?" she asked.
Charlie nodded and accepted the glass of plum brandy from his wife as he eased himself onto the sofa. Alex toddled over to him and hugged his leg.
Charlie grinned, setting his drink down, and reached down to pick his son up. Setting the toddler on his knee, Charlie tickled his son. When Alex giggled, Charlie hugged him to his chest.
"He's got a beautiful laugh, doesn't he?" Cassie asked in her Scottish accent.
"Just like his mum," Charlie answered, beaming at her.
"Could you be a love and give him a bath before dinner?" Cassie asked.
Charlie stared at her blankly for a moment. Cassie was always the one to bathe Alex, and he was tired.
"Aren't you going to do it?" he asked irritably.
"No, love," she replied with a wink. "I can't See myself doing it tonight."
"But I don't know how," Charlie whined.
Cassie chuckled at him. "You'll be fine. You've seen me do it loads of times. Besides, if you do a good job, I'll make you some saraille for dessert."
Oh, that woman knew how to bribe him, Charlie grumbled to himself. He reluctantly stood and carried Alex off to the bath.
After filling the tub a few inches deep with warm water and undressing the young boy, Charlie lowered him into the bath seat his mum had given them.
"Why your mum insists on bathing you the Muggle way is beyond me," he said to the boy. Alex giggled in response.
"Okay, let's see," Charlie said softly. He picked up two bottles from the edge of the tub. "One of these is soap, and the other is shampoo. Can't you just use one?" He scratched his head in confusion as he read the bottle labels.
Alex began to whimper after being ignored and left naked in the tub. When Charlie turned to look at him, Alex reached for his basket of bath toys in the corner.
"Which one do you want, mate?" Charlie asked. He picked up one. "The little boat-thing?" Alex kept reaching. "This one?" No luck, as Alex started to cry in earnest.
Finally Charlie picked up the bright yellow rubber duck Harry had sent. "This one?" Alex let out a happy gurgle. "We have a winner!" Charlie exclaimed. "Rubber ducky, you're the one!"
While his son busied himself with his bath companion, Charlie awkwardly lathered a washcloth with some soap and began to wash his son. He felt pretty proud of himself. Sadly, though, he had not gotten to the boy's feet.
The mud on Alex's feet had dried, making it more difficult to clean. Charlie grabbed one ankle and scrubbed at the chubby little foot, before Alex wrenched it away with a pained grunt.
"I'm sorry, mate," Charlie said. "But it's got to be clean." He made a grab for the foot again, but Alex was too quick. He kicked his father's arm into the water, soaking it.
"Come on, Alexander!" Charlie cried. "Let Da get that mud off!"
"Unh!" Alex whined.
After several more tries, Charlie managed to get both feet clean, but Alex did not go down without a fight. Charlie was sure his arms had several bruises on them.
"You're definitely going to be a Beater at Quidditch, aren't you?" Charlie asked.
The rubber ducky had floated away from Alex, but he was now more intrigued with the bottle of shampoo that Charlie had left on the tub's edge. After knocking it into the tub, Alex squeezed it, and a jet of shampoo and bubbles shot out of it… straight into Charlie's face.
"Alex," he yelled. "No!" His son merely giggled in reply.
Charlie removed the offensive bottle from the tub, tossing it carelessly behind him. He went back to washing his son's unruly hair.
Sadly, though, Alex grew bored and quickly discovered that forcing his hands into the water caused a big splash. He hit the water several times, spraying Charlie.
Charlie tried to hold his son's hands with one of his, while washing his hair with the other. But Alex struggled free. Finally, Charlie sat back, defeated.
"I've worked with dragons for almost fifteen years," he said to psych himself up. "Surely I can give my own son a bath."
He sighed and with renewed strength resumed washing Alex's hair. Just as he was finishing, Alex splashed him again. This time, Charlie's entire frame was drenched. "Why must you do this to me?" Charlie moaned.
Alex giggled up at Charlie. "Da!" he cried. "Da-da!"
"What?" Charlie said, his face breaking into a wide smile. "What did you say?"
"Da!" Alex cried again.
"Cassie!" Charlie yelled. "Cassie, get in here! Alexander's talking!"
Moments later, Cassie appeared in the doorway. She looked at her son's washed hair and her husband's saturated hair and clothes and broke into a fit of laughter.
"Having trouble?" she asked.
Charlie glared at her before remembering why he'd summoned her. "He talked!" he exclaimed.
"Really?" Cassie asked excitedly. "What did he say?"
"He said 'Da,'" Charlie said proudly.
"Charlie, dear," Cassie said, "he was probably just making sounds."
"No," Charlie insisted. "He knows me; he knows I'm Da." At her skeptical expression, he said, "Look."
He turned towards their son and said, "Alex, who'm I?" He pointed at himself.
"Da!" Alex answered.
Cassie broke into tears before kneeling down and hugging Charlie. She kissed him fiercely. "He said his first word!" she exclaimed.
"I know, and it's Da!" Charlie cried giddily.
Alex watched his parents kiss again before he felt ignored. "Da!" he whined, reaching up for Charlie.
Cassie handed Charlie a towel so he could wrap the boy in it. "We've got to Owl Mum," Charlie said. "And Bill, too. I don't think Marie was this young when she said her first words."
Cassie rolled her eyes. "Let's eat dinner first; then we can Owl or Floo whoever you want."
"I love you. You know that?" Charlie said.
Cassie smiled and kissed him. "I know. I love you too," she replied. "And you too," she said kissing Alex's cheek. "This is what pure bliss feels like."
"You entirely right," Charlie said, kissing his son. "Pure bliss."
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Saraille- a Romanian dessert of almond cake soaked in syrup