AN: Well, I decided to update! Sorry about the delay but I've been really busy with life and the lack of feedback has sort made me think that no one is that interested in this story anymore. I'm going to still work on it (I have a few more pieces in the works). Hopefully someone out there is still reading and enjoying
Timeline: End of Movie +2 Years
"Galahad, we really appreciate this." Valeria said walking into the main room where Galahad was waiting with Felix and Lucia. She smiled when the tips of Galahad's ears turned red, indicating he was embarrassed.
"It's no problem Valeria. You and Gawain deserve to have a nice night out together." He said and she leaned up and kissed his cheek, causing Galahad to blush in earnest.
"Hey, pup, keep away from my woman." Gawain said grinning as he came in from the children's room carrying their youngest, Morwen.
"Gawa-" Galahad began to complain, but was interrupted by the baby.
"Gal-Gal!" She cried reaching out for Galahad. Gawain chuckled and dumped his youngest daughter in Galahad's arms. The youngest knight was no longer quite as awkward with babies as he had been the first time he held Felix, but he was always slightly afraid of dropping the baby. Especially with Morwen since she seemed to like to squirm as much as possible.
"C'mon, love, let's leave Gal-Gal with the kids." Gawain said putting an arm around Valeria. She whacked him lightly for teasing Galahad, but any censure was pretty ineffective considering the smile on her face. They went over to kiss Felix and Lucia good night before leaving for their romantic evening.
"Alright, so what do you want to do first?" Galahad asked the older two while he grappled with Morwen. His attention on the baby, he missed the look that Felix and Lucia exchanged.
"Can we have dinner?" Lucia asked innocently. Galahad looked over to the table, where Valeria must have laid out the evening meal for him and the children before leaving. Galahad sighed in relief.
"Of course! Come on; let's see what your mother left for us." He said and they all moved to the table. Galahad struggled to get settled with Morwen as Felix and Lucia sat in front of their bowls of stew. "Erm, how does your mother do this?" He asked and saw the two children looking at him with unreadable expressions as he tried to settle and feed the baby.
"Dunno." Felix said with a shrug. He returned to his food, playing with one of his toys while he ate. Galahad frowned.
"Are you allowed to play at the table?" He asked and was a bit intimidated by the look that little Lucia gave him.
"Why wouldn't we be?" She asked and Galahad felt himself blushing.
"Erm…ok." Galahad shrugged and managed to get spoonful of porridge into Morwen. He smiled proudly and Morwen babbled back at him. A loud crash caused him to look over at the other two.
"I dropped my toy." Felix said. He continued to stare and Galahad could only give him a blank look in return. "Can you pick it up for me?"
"Sure." Galahad shrugged with a curious expression. He set Morwen on the floor and then went over to the other side of the table and leaned down to pick up Felix's toy. Suddenly he felt himself covered in something warm. "Gah!" Galahad said leaping back.
"Oops." Lucia said with a completely innocent look on her face. Galahad frowned but merely shrugged. It was an accident, right?
"No problem. Just watch your sister for a minute while I wash this out of my hair." Galahad went to pick up Morwen off the floor, but she was gone. "Where'd she go?" He asked. He wasn't that worried though. How far could a little baby like Morwen get?
"Maybe she went outside?" Felix said and pointed to the back down. Galahad cursed at the sight of the open door- he had sworn that the door was closed.
"Ooohh…you said a bad word." Lucia said and Galahad thought that he saw her smirking at him. He shook his head; surely that was just his imagination.
"I'll be right back; I'll go find your sister." He said and went out the back door into the garden. "Morwen?" He called out hesitantly. He frowned. It was really dark out here. He thought that there would've been more light from the house. He turned around and the door was closed. Galahad cursed again before marching back to bang on the door, the stew dripping from his hair into his collar.
"Felix! Lucia! Let me back in!" Galahad called out. He heard a sort of scuffling noise and what he guessed was childish laughter.
"Who's there?" Felix called from the house. Galahad grit his teeth together wondering how he ever could've thought that Felix and Lucia were innocent and sweet.
"It's me!"
"Me who?" Lucia's voice came and he could swear that he heard them giggling.
"At least tell me that Morwen is inside with you." Galahad begged feeling a little bit worried. He was sure Valeria would kill him for losing one of her children. She seemed to be fond of the little devils, Galahad thought with an irritated twist to his lips.
"She's here." Felix said and Galahad let out a sigh of relief.
"Can you let me in?" He asked in a cajoling voice.
"We're not supposed to let strangers in." Felix called back and Galahad looked up to the sky and counted to ten before answering.
"It's me. Galahad. Can I come in now?" He asked trying to keep his irritation from showing.
"I don't know…" Lucia said and Galahad swore that he was never babysitting for Gawain and Valeria again.
"C'mon! Let me in!" He cried. There was a bit of silence and shuffling. He could hear the two of them whispering to each other.
"Alright." Felix said at last and to Galahad's relief the door opened. He quickly stepped inside before they could change their mind. He sighed in relief as he spotted Morwen sitting on the floor by the table. He closed and bolted the door and glanced at the older two before going to Morwen. This time he noticed the look they exchanged.
"Nothing." Lucia said before Galahad could even pose a question. Then she gave a fake yawn. "Time for bed!" And without another word, she and Felix ran into their bedroom. Galahad frowned at them before turning to Morwen.
"Bollocks!" Galahad cursed loudly as he looked at the baby. She had steak and kidney pie smeared all over her mouth. Galahad knew a few things about each of Gawain's children and their eating habits. Felix's favorite dinner was chicken pot pie. Lucia loved all sweet things, the sweeter the better. And steak and kidney pie gave Morwen fierce and almost instant diarrhea. "Bollocks!" He cursed again as Morwen's face scrunched up and she cried as a horrible, horrible smell filled the air.
Galahad resigned himself to an awful night filled with smelly diapers and a crying baby; being covered in stew suddenly became the least of his problems. He changed Morwen's diaper and placed the baby on the floor, holding the soiled diaper in his hand, wondering what he was supposed to do with it. It was really gross and he couldn't believe that Valeria would want to keep the gross thing; surely it would be better to just toss this one rather than try to clean it.
He decided to toss it out into the backyard figuring that neither Gawain nor Valeria would want the stench in the house no matter what they decided to do with the diaper itself. As he walked to the door, he couldn't help but glance over his shoulder at Morwen who had managed to fall into a fitful sleep.
He chuckled to himself wondering how such an innocent looking being could make such a stench. However, his momentary distraction caused him to trip over some toys that seemed to have sprouted up while he was changing the incredibly smelly diaper. Which was unfortunately what he landed on when he fell to the ground. Hard. He longed for earlier in the evening when the thick viscous fluid covering his tunic was stew.
"That is it!" Galahad hissed. He chucked the diaper out the back door and stomped towards Felix and Lucia's room. He slammed the door open and took a deep breath getting ready to lay down the law. But the room was empty.
"BOLLOCKS!" Galahad yelled at the top of his lungs. Which caused Morwen to wake up from her light doze in the main room and start crying. Loudly. Galahad sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, grimacing right after he did, not really wanting to know if what he inadvertently rubbed all over his head was the stew or something…else.
Ignoring the baby for a moment, he went into Valeria and Gawain's room and stripped off his filthy tunic and grabbed one of Gawain's and put it on. It was much too large on him, but it didn't smell like crap, so it was a definite upgrade. Grabbing several diaper cloths, he went back to the other room and grabbed a screaming Morwen. He would have to go all over the fort to find Felix and Lucia and he wasn't sure how many times he would have to change Morwen. Galahad cursed again at the thought of Felix and Lucia giving their sister diarrhea on purpose.
As Galahad stormed out of the door of the house, he paused for a moment, wondering where the two of them would have gone. Gawain and Valeria had gone to the tavern, so he figured that they wouldn't have gone there. One was taking care of Vanora and Bors' children at their house and he knew that Lucia was best friends with Ten. But would they go there? Galahad sighed and decided that he should start there since he didn't really know where else to look. He figured that One might have some ideas.
Thankfully, Bors' house was only a short walk down the lane. But by the time Galahad reached it, Morwen had had another attack. Galahad grimaced as he knocked on the door. One answered looking rather irritated but her irritation turned quickly to a concern once she took in the sight of Galahad carrying a crying and smelly Morwen- with Felix and Lucia nowhere in sight.
"What's this then?" One asked. Galahad heaved a dramatic sigh. One replied by arching her eyebrow, looking eerily like her mother. Galahad swallowed hard.
"Felix and Lucia disappeared." He muttered under his breath. "Are they here?"
"Are they here? Are they here?" One repeated incredulously. Galahad gave her an irritated look.
"Yes, One. I am a horrible person. I lost track of the two little monsters that did nothing but make my life miserable the whole night! I don't know how their mother hasn't murdered them in their sleep yet!" One took in Galahad's almost wild appearance, the hysterical tenor of his voice, and the desperate look in his eyes. She took pity on him.
"Give me the baby and go check with Two, Gilly, and Lucan down by the pond." Galahad quickly handed over Morwen, who was still crying and sporting a dirty diaper. One scrunched up her nose.
"They fed her steak and kidney pie." Galahad explained and ran towards the pond before One could change her mind. He heard her cursing him behind him and for the first time that night a smile crossed his face.
Galahad made excellent time to the pond. He figured that it must've been desperation that was driving him. After seeing how evil their spawn was, he figured that Valeria and Gawain (who seemed strangely attached to the horrible monsters) would figure out even more effective ways to torture him. When he arrived at the pond, Galahad almost fell to his knees in relief. They were there.
"Why are you two here again?" He heard Lucan ask. Galahad didn't give Lucia and Felix a chance to answer.
"That's a very good question!" He roared jumping out of the bushes. Lucan took in Galahad's wild appearance and looked at his two siblings in slight disbelief.
"I'm out." Lucan said shaking his head and going back over to where Two and Gilly were splashing in the water. Galahad stormed over to the other two who started babbling excuses, but Galahad didn't listen. He just grabbed their hands and stomped back to Bors and Vanora's house to pick up Morwen. One looked like she wanted to say something but just silently handed Galahad the baby once she saw the look on his face.
Galahad put Felix in the middle and he took one hand while Lucia took the other. He carried the sleeping baby with his free arm. He just couldn't believe the trouble that these two caused. He had always thought that it was Bors' children who were terrors. He had severely underestimated how diabolical Gawain's children were.
"What were you two thinking? Did you have any idea how worried I was?" Galahad burst out as soon as they arrived back at the house. Felix had the good grace to look a bit ashamed of himself, but Lucia merely sniffed at him and put her nose up in the air. "What's that look for?"
"Dunno." Lucia answered sullenly, refusing to look at Galahad. Instead she kept her eyes fixed on the ceiling.
"Whatever." Galahad muttered as he felt something drip from his hair down his back. He quickly put the children to bed, making sure that the door was opened and he sat in the doorway watching them. Well, glowering at them really. Soon he heard the door open and Valeria and Gawain were walking into the house. Well, stumbling and laughing as they entered the house. They stopped when they saw Galahad and the state that he was in. Despite the clean tunic, he looked awful. And they didn't really know why he would be sitting in the doorway to the children's room.
"Er- Galahad?" Gawain asked walking over to his friend. Valeria looked around the house, which was in as state of complete disarray.
"What happened?" She asked a bit alarmed.
"I'm never babysitting again!" Galahad whined. And without another word he left the house, slamming the door behind him and muttering about needing a bath and drink. Gawain and Valeria exchanged bewildered looks before going into the children's room. Felix was sound asleep and they bent down and gave him a kiss before turning to Lucia; who was wide awake and looking at them with a frown on her face.
"What are you still doing up?" Valeria said with a smile, sitting on the end of Lucia's bed. Her daughter turned over and looked up at her with a slightly defiant look at her face.
"You can't leave again." She said petulantly. Gawain sat down on the other side of the bed and exchanged a look with Valeria.
"What are you talking about little missy." He said chucking her under the chin.
"Why don't you want to spend time with us anymore?" She whined. Valeria looked at a bit of a loss, but Gawain just laughed.
"Is that why Galahad looked like he was ready to spit nails? What did you two do to him?" He asked and Lucia merely frowned and pulled the covers up over her head.
"C'mon, fess up." Gawain said as he and Valeria moved to lower the covers.
"Why don't you want to be with us?" Lucia asked again. They heard the door open and Lucan come in the house.
"You go. I'll talk to her." Valeria said and Gawain nodded kissing both girls before going to greet Lucan and make sure the boy was alright. "Lucia, your father and I love you and your brothers and sister very much. But we need some time to ourselves too." She tried to explain.
"No- everything's different. Morwen makes everything different and now you and Da are going away without us." She sniffled and Valeria sighed.
"Sweetie, we'll always love you kids. But everything changes. Life is full of them, and that's not really an excuse to torture poor Galahad." She said trying to get Lucia to smile. She did a little bit and Valeria leaned in to give her another kiss. "Good night."
"Night Mummy." Lucia returned before turning over in bed and going to sleep herself.
As Valeria walked back into the main room, she saw the mess that Felix and Lucia had made and wrinkled her nose at the smell of Morwen's accident still lingering in the air. Gawain and Lucan had made an effort to start cleaning up the food from the floor and she joined them sighing.
"I guess we can't really leave them with Galahad." She said mournfully. Gawain laughed and she gave him a half-hearted glare. He shrugged.
"Is it wrong that I'm sort of proud of them for how much thought they put into this?" Gawain asked. Before Valeria could answer, Morwen started crying.
"Let me answer that by saying- you can change your daughter's diaper." Valeria and Lucan laughed as Gawain groaned. As he was changing Morwen he couldn't help but hope that in the future, Felix and Lucia would use their skills for good instead of evil. Or at least that they would stop feeding their sister steak and kidney pie.
AN: Hope that you enjoyed that! Review and let me know what you think
