Chapter eleven
Josie woke up a few days after Christmas, crying out loud when her daughter had jumped on her stomach, of course unintentionally. She opened her eyes and smiled painfully at the young blonde girl who in return laid her head to Josie's chest. "Wow…that's a lovely sight to see," Ian was standing by the door and stared oddly at Jade's bottom. It was an amusing sight Josie had to agree, she'd been on the receiving end of Jade's butt and because the nappies or pull ups made it look over large she usually laughed.
Chuckling the sixteen year old mother ran her fingers through the fourteen month old's hair, her finger getting stuck in one of the many knots in her lovely curls, inherited from her father. "Good morning," she carefully moved Jade into her lap and sat up, "so what's on the agenda for Jade today?" Ian who thought that kids were usually pains had grown quite close to the young girl, during the holidays he had taken her to all sorts of places and even taught her to catch, for Christmas he gave her, her first beyblade.
"Well…I wanted to take her ice skating, I mean she's young and all but I swear I won't let her fall," Ian said quickly, all in one breath. "And considering your teammates and others will be staying in the manor I thought I'd take her out of your hands while you get prepared and stuff-"
Josie thought it over long and hard, "well…as long as she doesn't hurt herself. Oliver got her some skates, they're in her wardrobe right at the top so you might have to get Bryan or Spencer to get them and really I don't know how I got it up there…"
"Are you implying I'm short?"
"Yes," Josie moved her legs out of bed and stood up taking Jade with her in her arms, "I'll get Enrique to pack her baby bag, I'll get her changed and you get some breakfast," she stared pointedly at Ian who in turn raised his eyebrows.
"I already ate-"
"Liar," she hissed, she smiled and lifted a hand to ruffle his indigo hair, "go eat breakfast Ian, breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Ian grudgingly complied and left the roo shoving past Enrique.
"Buongiorno," Enrique pecked his sister on the cheek and smiled lazily at her, "how's my favourite sister?" His cheeks were rosy and his hair wet, steam was coming out of the door from behind him, his body covered in a thin layer of water. A towel was wrapped around his waist showing his finely chiselled chest and muscular arms.
"Enrique…I'm you're only sister now put on some clothes," she glared at him annoyed and turned Jade the other way so she couldn't see his almost naked form.
"What if I don't want to? You're lady friends will be here and I might just want to go free." He smiled enjoyably at seeing his sister's obvious peevishness.
"You do what you want, Jade's going with Ian," Josie reached up and pulled the her hair out of her daughter's grasp, "honey don't do that it hurts," she then kissed her on the forehead, "but if I get a sight of you and your 'thing' you'll be lucky if I don't set Johnny or Oliver on you."
"Oliver will think its bella and probably go free as well."
"Then it'll be Johnny and perhaps Robert on you, hey aren't you going to practice with Robert soon?" She changed topics fast and watched the colour drain from his face, "you have a date don't you Eni?" she teased, "who's your new toy? Drusilla or Stephanie?"
Enrique moved forward in a threatening position and growled a low string of Italian curses. Josie laughed and jumped back holding Jade's head to her chest, "you better tell Robert because he'll think you 'uncouth'!"
"He already does!"
"Just get Jade's baby bag ready," she replied as she walked down the grand staircase to the foyer. She greeted everyone in the kitchen with a bright smile and seated Jade in her high chair, a bowl of mashed banana already set.
Kai raised his eyebrows at her noticing the rosy cheeks and the merry twinkle in her eyes, "thankyou Oliver," she said as a plate of pancakes was placed in front of her. Johnny was pulling faces at Jade making her squirm and giggle in her seat, her spoon falling from the chair, Josie handed her another one and then watched Johnny feed her expertly. Most of the time it was Johnny who fed her, Oliver was usually cooking or cleaning and Robert was somewhere in the mansion, most probably in the library. She always woke up too late that Jade was already prepared for the day ahead but when it was one of the days Josie liked to sleep in the guys fed her.
"So…what's on the agenda today?" Johnny asked absently, he blew at his burgundy bangs and then scrunched his nose trying to get the itch to stop.
"Well I'll get the rest of the bedrooms prepared and you'll, you 'know' to Enrique if he walks around naked." She replied smiling at Kai and then frowning when she noticed the front cover of the sports page of the newspaper. She was about to say something when Kai replied.
"Yes I've read it, nothing new just the same old stuff." He couldn't read Italian but Josie did get other newspapers in Russian and English, just to keep up with the gossip.
"At least they got my good side…" she mumbled biting into the syrupy goodness of her breakfast.
A few hours later Josie ran around the house checking out all the rooms to make sure they were warm and inviting for her friends and others, her team, the Demolition Boys and the Bladebreakers were going to be staying with her for the remainder of the tournament. It wasn't too long to go, just two more rounds. Anonymous versus the Bladerbreakers and the Demolition Boys versus the Bandits. Then is was the final round.
Reasonably no one was in the house or they were but weren't commonly seen. She knew Enrique, Johnny and Robert were in the dancing/fencing studio, Bryan and Spencer using the gym equipment and Kai and Tala somewhere out in the gardens, Oliver was on her balcony painting something or other and Ian was ice skating with Jade. She smiled despite herself, she never really got much peace and quiet but when she did she liked to enjoy it with a good book in hand or her violin.
Entering the room designed for Lan and Yuri she rested the violin to her shoulder but the sound of slamming car doors called for her attention. She moved towards the window and looked down with a joyous smile on her delicate face. Lan giggled and waved brightly to her, her waist length blonde hair almost reaching her butt, looking far longer than Josie remembered it.
Lan stopped waving and watched Josie wave back, something about the image created made her look very sinister. Her captain's eyes shadowed and her violin looking like a threatening weapon. Suddenly Josie disappeared and soon or later reappeared at the front door with a dazzling smile on her face.
"Hey guys," she greeted moving down the steps trying not to slip on the frost that she had watched Ian slip on before.
"Hello," they greeted an edge of tiredness to their voices. Rafaela began unloading the limo but was lightly moved to the side as butlers came and took the bags from her hands.
"Um…thanks." She greeted awkwardly. Rafaela looked towards Josie who smiled and bounced on the balls of her heels.
"Come on in, don't worry they'll take your bags…unless you want to take them yourselves?" she winked and then moved out of the way as one of the men walked up the stairs easily, no sign of slipping. When she walked them into the foyer and up the staircase she began talking in a curt voice, "Enrique and I have set a few rules while you stay in our house…" she paused and then frowned, "well it would be our house considering mama and papa are hardly home," she whispered to herself. "But these rules are for your safety and such. We're not giving a curfew but we're restricting you from walking the house at night, you are allowed to walk on your own level where your room is but not go upstairs or downstairs (in your case). Because you can get lost and all this other junk, you can go if you ask or something but yea…I'd advise against it because I get lost in my own house…Enrique and I don't move about because we think ghosts roam walk the night."
Lan giggled nervously and then continued following Josie, "also, there's a set time for meals as well, this is nobody comes up to me and go 'we're hungry' or whatever. Meals will last for two hours, breakfast usually starting at eight, lunch at one and dinner at seven. Breakfast will change depending on tournament times. Chefs don't work after dinner, anything you want to eat you get it yourself but keep in mind that if everything in the pantry is gone than snacks and other such foods won't arrive till Wednesday or Sunday."
"You done yet?" Cy asked grumpily, "don't you trust us?"
"I trust you; I just don't trust the house."
"What do you mean?" Yuri asked confused, her brown eyes looking quizzically at the blonde.
"Well look at it, it's big isn't it everyone's gonna get lost at least once and if you don't pay attention to where you're going you'll be in a bit of trouble. I say just stick to the main corridors; doors have signs on them as well so you know what's what. Rafaela you'll be staying in my room which is right here so go make yourself comfortable. Yuri and Lan you'll have the room beside ours and Cy yours across from theirs. Here's something else you should know, the Bladebreakers reside in the rooms above us and the Demolition Boys below us. Enrique and his friends are on the same corridor as us."
"Is that all?" Cy asked impatiently, he eyed his door hungrily wanting to fall asleep on a comfortable bed.
"Until I remember what else to say, now go get settled in and take a rest, I'll wake you for dinner." Josie smiled and then watched her friends grumble and moan as they entered the room, moans of delight coming from Cy and Lan at the sight of their bed.
Josie chuckled and entered hers and Rafaela's room; she took a seat at the vanity table and watched the orange and red haired girl look about the room in awe. "This is wonderful; I'd give anything for this life style." She dumped her carry bag at the foot of her bed and bounced on the edge of her bed, "this is life." She giggled sheepishly and turned her attention to the sixteen year old.
"Glad you like it, I tried to make it as comforting and wonderful as I could but considering it's my room, I didn't really want to change anything." Josie shrugged and got up to answer her bedroom door.
"More have arrived," the butler said while getting up from his bow. Josie smiled and then turned to Rafaela who dismissed her with a wave of her hand.
"Show me the way," Josie said curtly.
A few hours passed and the house was more than noisy, the Bladebreakers were running around left, right and centre. Thankfully Josie and Enrique made the house damage proof the night before, the butlers putting various breakable objects away in the safe. Kai was glaring at his team mates for running amok, he was grateful that Ray had the decency to just sit down and was even pleased when Hilary yelled at them about manners and having courtesy towards Josie. He sighed and watched Josie come down the stairs looking a bit stressed; her hair was tangled from the amount of times she ran her nimble fingers through her hair.
A loud bell sounded and everyone's attention turned towards the Maid, "dinner is served, please retreat to the dining room in a formal manner." Josie smiled relieved at the woman and then joined Kai at the dinner table.
Ten minutes into the meals where her team was mingling well with the Bladebreakers and the Demolition Boys did Ian returned out of breath. "I'm sorry, it took a while to get Jade out of her skates," he placed the girl in the highchair and seated himself beside Spencer. Suddenly all the girls in the room, minus Josie, squealed and ran out of their seats to coo over Jade.
"She's so cute in person," Lan smiled and played with her little hand.
"How old are you little missy?" Hilary asked sweetly.
"One y-year," Jade giggled and then looked at her mother nervously; Josie smiled and then tucked in a strand of her daughter's hair behind her ear.
"Come on guys, you can coo over her later, she needs to eat." The girls reluctantly returned to their seat where still, they talked about Jade. Josie concluded that it was going to be one long night.
I am incredibly sorry for the long update! Physics is getting on my nerves and school is positively frightening. I hope everyone had a happy Easter and I got a damned email…but it won't matter…I hope everyone got lots of eggs and such…I got none family thing, I'm too old for chocolate. I promise an earlier update next time. Reviews and ideas are welcome.
