Nevaeh clapped her tiny hands as King made the large green bear twirl around her. Her emerald eyes lit up with excitement.
"Dada!" She cried,causing the fairy to smile.
"It's silly isn't it,princess?" Diane spread the blanket on the ground underneath the towering tree. The giantess looked out over the lake. She had never seen the sun shine so brightly in such a clear, beautiful blue sky. She watched as Nevaeh reached for King and was lifted into his arms.
"Dada!" She repeated, resting her head on his shoulder. The fairy kissed her head.
"That's right, Nevaeh." He said gently. Suddenly, Diane's arms were around them. The child giggled.
"Mama!" she shrieked, gently chewing on her finger. Diane could hardly contain the joy she felt. The child had only begun calling for her the day before. She kissed the child's forehead.
"Hi baby!" She said cheerfully, before laying her head on King's. "Isn't this great, Harlequin. Just the three of us, enjoying the beautiful day?"
"Yeah. It's nice to be out of the tavern for another reason besides having to get supplies. Nevaeh seems to like it too. She's just so curious about everything around her."King sat down with his daughter, Diane lowered herself down next to him.
"We should have a great view of the sunset later, it'll be have a pretty reflection on the lake too. Do you remember the last time we watched together?"
"Yeah,it was such a long time ago,though. I think we were still staying in that cave."King replied. Diane grinned.
"That's right, I sat at the entrance and I held you in my hand. I was always so happy when I was with you. It was the best feeling in the world. To have someone special to share it with really made it that much better." Nevaeh's eyes grew wide as a light blue butterfly came into view. She watched it hover with curiosity and wonder.
"It's a butterfly," King explained as the insect moved closer. Nevaeh whimpered softly, grabbing her father's shirt for comfort.
"It's okay, little princess. It won't hurt you. It's just saying hello." The child closed her eyes tightly, feeling the butterfly land on her shoulder.
"Dada!" she sobbed, frightened by the creature.
"It's okay," King soothed, gently taking the butterfly with his free hand. 'see, it's nice. Where I come from, there's a story about butterflies. They only choose special people, the truly special flowers. This one picked you, Nevaeh. That means it knows how special you are." Nevaeh opened her eyes, carefully turning to see the butterfly which was now resting in King's hand. She pointed to it.
"Dada?"
"Do you want it back?" King carefully opened the child's tiny hand,helping her to keep her hand open. He allowed the insect to crawl back to his daughter. Soon, the child began to giggle.
"See, it's not scary. It's a beautiful world, Nevaeh. There's a lot of wonderful things in it, I hope you can see that as you get older. Some people don't take the time to notice the little things that make that possible. You'll learn as you grow that not everything that seems scary is scary...but not everything that seems nice is safe, either. You'll learn that we can't always be afraid of the things around us. "
The insect lightly flapped it's wings, leaving the child's hand. Nevaeh watched as it hovered only a moment before departing. Nevaeh reached out, tears filling her eyes.
"D-Dada..M-mama." She sobbed.
"shh, it's okay, sweetie," Diane said rubbing her daughter's back gently. "It's probably going to find its friends and tell them all about the adventures it had today and the beautiful little princess it found."
A soft bark caused the fairy to turn. King smiled, pointing to the hound.
"Look, Oslo came to play with you." The fairy said. "Say hi Oslo!" Nevaeh sniffled, allowing her father to wave her hand as the hound approached the family happily. He sniffed at the child, causing her to giggle and grab for his fur. King quickly took hold of her hand.
"Be nice with Oslo." He instructed, guiding her hand to stroke Oslo's head. 'such a good boy, Oslo." King praised. The hound extended his head toward the girl, licking her cheek, causing the child to have a laughing fit.
"See, Oslo doesn't want you to be sad, he loves you."The hound laid down in front of Nevaeh, continuing to sniff. King and Diane loved to hear their daughter laugh, it was in both their opinions, the most beautiful sound either of them had ever heard.
"it's hard to believe it'll be a whole year since we brought her to live with us." King commented, watching his daughter play with the hound.
"Yeah, it feels like it was just yesterday. The time just flew by, soon Nevaeh will be walking, talking and then..." Diane let her voice trail off. King took her hand, giving it a comforting squeeze.
"Don't get too far ahead of yourself, Diane, that's a long way off and anyway, you'll still be her mother and she'll always need you. Our baby is growing up and it the best thing in the world to watch it happen but it's also one of the saddest sometimes. let's just enjoy the little moments. We can't focus on later, you and I have to be here right now, to give her these memories, you don't want to miss them." King said.
"You're right. It's just that...I miss my baby."
"I know. It's part of being a mother, I guess."
"Yeah...Hey, Harlequin?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think..maybe someday we could...have another one?" King's face began to turn scarlet.
"wait a minute." He said quickly. "Let's not get-" Diane silenced him with a kiss. After a moment she rested her forehead against the fairy's with a soft chuckle.
"You always get so nervous and flustered. We're a family, you don't have to do that, you know. I wish you'd be more relaxed...but I have to admit, it's really cute. I love you so much.
"I-I love you too."
" I mean it though, we should...one day, if that's something you want."
"Diane, I-" King struggled to find his answer, when he noticed a small family of deer nearing the lake. He pulled away, pointing to the animals.
"Look at that, aren't they amazing?" Diane sighed heavily.
"Yeah, they're okay I guess." The giantess turned her attention back to Nevaeh but said nothing.
It was late by the time King and Diane reached the Boar Hat, Nevaeh slept peacefully in her mother's arms.
"How'd it go today?" Meliodas asked. King stopped in front of the Captain.
"I'm going to take Nevaeh up to bed, are you coming,King?" Diane asked.
"In a few minutes." King replied watching her climb the stairs. Once they were out of sight, the fairy turned to Meliodas.
"That didn't sound good, trouble in paradise, King?"
"Do you have any idea what she said to me today?"
"Can't say I do."
"let's just say that you and I got me into a situation that it's not going to be easy to get out of." Meliodas tilted his head in curiosity.
"What did I-"
"You made a suggestion, and I agreed." King shook his head. "And you know what Captain, I can't even be angry about it."
"Something about Nevaeh?"The dragon sin asked.
"Kind of. You started this, I went along with it and now here I am, trying to find a way to dig myself out of the hole I dug."
"You gonna tell me?"
"You know what...no. Just know that although this has been the best year of my life, I'm now officially on Diane's world's biggest jerk list. I don't need anymore-" Meliodas smirked.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"What's so funny, Captian?"
"I think I just figured it out. What did you say to her?"
"What do you think I said?" King crossed his arms.
"I don't know, you probably got all embarrassed and changed the subject." The blonde sin chuckled.
"Right." Meliodas patted King's shoulder.
"She'll come around. She loves you way too much to put you on that list. Come on, let's have a talk." Meliodas said, leading King to a table in the corner of the bar.
"about what?"
"I'm gonna help you out of that hole I helped you into. First, you have to tell me about the conversation, just so we're on the same page."