A/N: It's a massive time-skip, I'm aware. But I couldn't stop myself XD I haven't been active in a while and it's because I'm still suffering from the dreaded writer's block. The cause: jotting down too many story ideas and only writing them halfway.

Gods, this is hard TT_TT But it'll be fine because this happened last year too XD

Anyways, thank you for following, faving, and reading this supposedly 'chill' story. I want to make this the official CluClu family one-shot collection. So if you want to see a scene, yo let me know! XD (I'm sorry I can't write rated M for this one, because it's going to be family-centric. Also, lots of domestic fluff.) I'll write about Aurora's baby days too at some point :)

Thank you for the kind messages. And thanks for leaving reviews Akira-Hayma, wintergables, keepcoffee03, Dragon lord Syed 101, Admiral T. DeVanto, wootanin, tennohikari, and my 2 Guest reviewers.

Everything's All Right

Huffing and puffing, she tore past the trimmed lawn, pushing herself to go faster and faster. As fast as her short legs could carry her. From the beginning, she'd been dead-set on the fact that she would definitely lose. There was no way to win this game. Not when her brother was nine and she was just six.

She wanted to grow up… And grow up now!

"Alexandeeerrr~ That's not fair!"

Perched on the lowest branch that she couldn't reach, her brother leered at her playfully, sticking his tongue out with that impish expression she was desperate to wipe off of his face.

"You didn't say anything about not climbing trees." Alexander declared smugly, tilting his chin up haughtily.

How dare he! He wasn't better than her.

"This is cheating!"

"You don't even know what cheating means."

"I do too!" She hissed, face warming from outrage as she stomped her foot defiantly on Papa's baby's breath flowers — completely forgetting they were there. "I'm not stupid!"

Her irritation only fueled her brother's amusement, as he too verbally retaliated and a back-and-forth of childish arguments ensued. From her view on the deck, C.C. watched her children with amusement shining in her eyes. The telltale sound of childish play was more apparent than ever in the house now, thanks to her children and their never-ending antics.

If it wasn't Alexander zipping through the house on his roller blades, it was lovely Aurora pestering her Papa about teaching her how to make cakes and desserts — which Alexander would steal bites out of and then the teasing and the playing would start anew.

Sometimes it was really easy to forget about how much time flew…

C.C. could still vividly picture herself walking around the house, her womb swelling with life — anticipating and eagerly waiting for the due date to come. Her pregnancy had been chock full of memorable moments — from the moment she first knew to Lelouch's adorable doting, to Alexander's bright stories, and up to the moment she had lain in bed covered in sweat.

Full of joy and tribulation… But she could care less about the latter when the ordeal had finished. Not when the midwife had finally presented them with their newest bundle of joy.

Her quiet yet cheerful baby had grown so much in the last six years, completing their family with this delightful baby girl with her father's hair, and her mother's full set of facial features, coupled with dainty little feet and toes — a tiny frame that matched a Princess. For she was a Princess, was she not?

Aurora had the loveliest amber eyes, her son had said. And C.C. couldn't help but agree.

Yes, they named her after the dawn... For she filled their lives with the gentle yet stunning rays of a new morning.

And her boys… Oh, her boys. Lelouch shamelessly doted on his children from the moment he met them. And Alexander, though he teased his sister and enjoyed pushing her temper to its limits, cared about her as much as Lelouch loved Nunnally. His behavior needed correction sometimes (he was still growing, after all), but he was always at her side — stuck to his little sister like glue since the day she learned to walk and gurgle her own version of his name, "Lex-er."

Nowadays though, her children were in their phase of friends-to-enemies and enemies-to-friends at the drop of the hat. One moment Aurora was smitten with her brother's imaginative stories, and in the next, she would be running after him promising revenge because he stole her dolls and "he's going to feed them to the yucky worms."

"Are they at it again?"

Glancing over her shoulder, she smiled at her husband as he emerged from the shadows of the house, carrying a tray with two glasses of lemon juice. It was a rather pleasantly warm afternoon — perfect for cool refreshments.

"Like dog and cat." C.C. snickered, sipping from the beverage gratefully.

"I can't say I'm surprised." Lelouch agreed, releasing the second button on his shirt in an attempt to cool off.

He joined C.C. in her viewing of the most recent sibling skirmish, and he idly wondered what it was about this time around. They had been playing nicely thirty minutes ago. But it was rather easy to forget how excellent Alexander was at riling up Aurora. His son slowly climbed down from his perch on a branch closest to the ground, and was immediately greeted with some plastic shovel whacking.

"Nunnally and I never—"

"They're not you and Nunnally." C.C. pointed out. And she had too, because Lelouch was about to jump into one of his speeches about treating little sisters like the princesses that they were.

Quite frankly, Lelouch was right. Alexander and Aurora resembled Lelouch and his sister's relationship the tiniest bit. C.C. never told him aloud, but her children reminded her of hers and Lelouch's bickering and bantering (without the romantic affection). One close look and perhaps her husband would see that too.

Aurora was always content to mind her own business, until Alexander would sneak into her space and ask her questions, talk about things she didn't want to hear, or simply tease her for one thing or other.

"Get back here, you meanie!"

Aurora's shrieks carried over the open air, her frustration only fueling her brother's amusement. Cackling, the older brother zipped across the trimmed lawn, through some hedges, and did his best to jump over shrubbery — perhaps even creating some superhero movie about it in his head.

Panting and flustered, our lovely Princess gave up the chase as she could do naught but bend over on hands and knees and gasped greedily for oxygen. She hated running… It was stupid and it made her sweaty. Yuck!

"You're such a slowpo— Whoa!"

In shock and horror, narrowed amber eyes widened into saucers as the sister dashed after her fallen brother — clutching a swollen and alarmingly red ankle, hissing and muttering 'stupid' under his breath over and over again.

"No! Big brother are you okay?" She frantically asked, eyes wide with panic as she brushed broken twigs and kicked some pebbles aside.

Alexander had to blink several times to rid his vision of dark spots. Gods, his ankle was on fire, and it hurt. But he couldn't let his baby sister see that. Papa had always told him to be a dependable older brother — to be his sister's guardian (although he was also a tormentor most of the time, but he couldn't help that because she was so easy to tease). It was ridiculous to think about dying because of this…injury, but even then, he had to be strong, right?

How would he protect Aurora in the future if he couldn't reassure her now?

So even if he tried his best to contain the wince, he still did his best to smile (though it looked more like a grimace).

"I'm fine, I promi— Ah!"

Oops…

Shadows fell over the children and they looked up simultaneously to find their parents crouched over them both. The moment C.C. gathered her crestfallen daughter into her arms, she whimpered and buried her face into her mother's shoulder. It was her fault, she whimpered. C.C. soothed their weeping princess, drying her cheeks from tears that were trailing halfway down her face, whispering all the while that dear Aurora had nothing to be sorry for.

It was an accident…

"Yeah!" Alexander piped up, still hissing at the lightest touch on his ankle. "It was an accident, Rory. Don't cry…"

That was a brave thing to say, wasn't it? One glance at his father's face and Alexander could honestly say he was proud of himself. Aurora shouldn't have to cry because he tripped over some stupid rock or whatever it was that blocked his path. Sighing, he resigned himself to his father's strong arms as Lelouch picked him up as if he were four years old again.

That was enough outdoors playtime for one afternoon, wasn't it?

vVvVv

Lelouch took Alexander to one of the sitting rooms to attend to his sprained ankle, and C.C. worked on distracting Aurora from her anxieties with some of the baked cakes that she and Papa made this morning.

"Is big brother okay?" Aurora asked again, looking up at her mother with the same bullion eyes. "He's not going to— To… Disappear. Right?"

Smiling affectionately at her lovely baby girl, C.C. tucked locks of raven hair behind her ear as her daughter nibbled on the edge of a funfetti-vanilla cupcake. "Alexander is in good hands, Sweetheart. Papa is fixing him."

And there was naught she could do but nod in agreement. Because if there was anyone who could fix their bad days, it would be Papa, wouldn't it? Papa was excellent at that. He knew how to make her smile, and he taught her great things. He made the loveliest desserts, and told her and Alexander all the best bedtime stories.

Yes, Alexander would be all right… Because Papa was there!

And right as if her thoughts summoned them, Alexander came hobbling out into the main room, walking slowly to avoid agitating the ankle now wrapped in bandages to help the muscles heal. Papa was there too, holding one arm to steady him as he took a seat on one of the couches.

Overcome with relief, Aurora leaped from her dining chair — cupcake and sweet treats abandoned — and scrambled over to her brother — throwing dainty arms around his shoulders while she apologized profusely for something she didn't even cause. Alexander winced, but he smiled as he patted the top of her head in reassurance, telling her what Papa told him.

That he was going to be perfectly fine…

Oh… And she won the game they had been playing too.