Author's Note: Sorry this update has been so long in coming. Got caught up in writing Tempest.

Chapter 19: Of Unicorns and Babies Part 1

Sally had been floating on her back lazily swaying softly from side to side as she was lulled into a light nap from the warmth of the water and the familiar humming of the tank's sophisticated filtration system. A pleasant dream of playing a game of tag among the coral reef with her beloved was flittering through her mind and a little smile graced her elegant face. Eventually, the corners of her eyes crinkled as faint sounds penetrated her head and interrupted her sweet dream. The noises grew louder and the agitated mermaid groaned and rolled slowly onto her side toward the irritating source of intrusion.

As it got close to her enclosure the mermaid's annoyance disappeared as enlightenment descended. Opening her eyes, she turned into an upright position and floated out of her cave toward the glass front that gave a clear view of the Sanctuary rotunda. A little two headed figure was rushing toward her, followed by two taller, slower moving figures. Their features sharpened as they got closer and the mermaid could feel the child's excitement as she skidded to a stop before the wall of glass.

Slapping one hand up onto the cool glass Ashley bounced up and down on her feet as she waited for Sally to touch the glass and acknowledge her.

"Hello, little one," the green eyed mermaid greeted and smiled. "Who is your friend?"

Ashley proudly held up her prize with both hands, realized she couldn't hear Sally since she'd removed her hand, gave a loud squeak and quickly replaced her palm to the glass. "This is Ariel," the child gushed and pressed the stuffed toy's face against the glass for Sally to inspect. "She's a mermaid! Uncle James won her for me in the zoo's arcade. Well, other people helped by winning a bunch of the game tickets but Uncle James won the most so I could get her. What do you think? Isn't she pretty?"

"She's lovely," the mermaid laughed. "Now perhaps you can have your wish to swim with a mermaid."

The child shook her head. "Mommy says Ariel shouldn't go into the water too much. She'll shrivel up."

"Oh," Sally laughed again. "Well then, you'll just have to work on holding your breath in the water to come swim with me."

"Okay," Ashley said with a loud yawn. Today had been the best day ever and she was fighting off the exhaustion that pulled at her. She didn't want the day to end just yet and had insisted to her parents that she had to show Ariel to Sally before they put her to bed.

Sally looked up as Helen placed her hand to the glass and greeted her. "She let out a loud scream when she saw the toy in the arcade and declared we had to win it for her so that she could have her very own mermaid to sleep with at night. James spent a small fortune winning the tickets for the top prize at the arcade. I thought the attendant behind the counter was going to faint when he was presented with the massive pile of tickets that added up to the necessary 10,000 points."

"Top prize? That would explain why the toy is almost as big as she is," the mermaid observed.

"Indeed," Helen agreed. "Perhaps she'll actually sleep in her own bed and remain there now that she has a playmate her own size."

Tilting her head, the mermaid stared hard at the woman on the other side of the glass. Her mate was standing quietly behind the child alternating between watching the child and her. The mermaid could feel his mellow mood and pride as he looked affectionately at his young offspring. "You're with child again," Sally suddenly stated, causing the surprised doctor's eyes to go wide.

"How did you..?" Helen gasped aloud then clamped her mouth shut as Ashley and John looked at her in concern. She plastered a fake smile on her face for them before looking back at the smug mermaid. "Yes," she admitted telepathically to Sally. "I haven't told anyone yet so please don't say anything."

The mermaid nodded and her long dark locks swirled in the water giving her an ethereal look as the back lighting highlighted her figure. "Congratulations," she pleasantly replied. "I presume this is a good thing?"

It was Helen's turn to nod. "A much unexpected surprise."

"Ashley will be thrilled to have an actual live playmate of her own age," Sally said. "Two little ones running around in the Sanctuary. Been a long time since that happened. Henry and Ashley were quite the little trouble makers in their day."

Helen grinned. "Yes they were. And the Sanctuary will be home to four little ones within six months time. Henry's twins are due in four months and Erika is moving in with us full-time next week after she finalizes the sale of her home in England. This place is going to be overflowing with diapers, crying babies and exhausted parents." The two laughed.

Following another loud yawn from Ashley, Helen consented to John's suggestion that they get their daughter to bed. As the family strolled away with the big man carry the child and her mother carrying the equally large stuffed toy, Sally floated back to her cave and mused, "Four mischievous little humans running loose in the Sanctuary. The good Doctor Magnus is going to have her hands quite full."

Ten minutes later Helen had Ashley in her pajamas, her teeth brushed and ready for bed. The sleepy eyed girl crawled into her bed without making a fuss about not getting to sleep in her parent's bed and tightly hugged her new best friend against her. "Read me a story," she begged with a long yawn.

Pulling off his jacket, John dropped it at the foot of his daughter's bed and reached for a book from the stuffed bookshelf in the corner. He froze as he heard "I want The Velveteen Rabbit, daddy," and dropped his shoulders with a sigh. He was getting rather tired of The Velveteen Rabbit. His suggestion of another book never left his lips as he looked into Ashley's pleading blue eyes which stared up at him from behind the head of her new toy. Giving her a smile he reached for the much thumbed through book lying on the nightstand and turned to the first page. "There once was a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid. He was fat and bunchy, as a rabbit should be…" he said without even looking at the page. He knew the words already by heart. Instead his focused on the beautiful face of his only child and how she happy she looked snuggled down under the covers with Ariel.

Standing in the shadows, Helen looked on as John read to their child and felt her throat tighten. Moments like this were so precious and she cherished them and burned them into her memory whenever she could. Halfway through the reading she quietly left the room and wiped away the tears that threatened at the corners of her eyes. Darn baby hormones.

Closing the book, John finished saying the last paragraph of Ashley's favorite story and then silently continued to stare at his sleeping offspring. She had closed her eyes before he's even reached the middle of the story. Her golden hair was splayed around her head like a halo and her long, dark lashes fluttered against her cheek as she breathed evenly in and out. This perfect little creature would never fail to amaze him. She was temperamental, high energy, stubborn, clever, spunky, cheerful, and her laughter was infectious. He couldn't imagine his daughter being anything else.

Ashley shifted in her sleep and gave a peaceful sigh as she buried her nose into the side of mermaid's head. Leaning down, John kissed her forehead. "Sleep well, my pet," he softly whispered and turned off the lamp on the nightstand. A nightlight in the shape of a pony gently bathed the right side of the room in a calming blue light.

As he pulled the blanket up to cover her shoulder an old memory slammed into him and he gave a little chuckle. He had been sleeping on his stomach with his head turned to the left side. His torso was bare save for the large bandages that Helen had plastered over the wounds her latest beastie had given him during its recapture in the lower levels of the Sanctuary. Will had also received several scratches but nothing as extreme as the deep ones Druitt had received. Having been dosed with heavy medication John had fallen into a deep slumber and had lost track of time.

Giving a low grunt as he slowly awoke, he became aware of a heavy weight upon the lower half of his body. Twisting his head to see around him he tried to lift up the upper part of his body and groaned loudly as a dull pain throbbed through his body. Feeling the weight on his backside shift again he stopped cringing from pain to see what was behind him. His eyes widened at the sight of his four year old daughter peering at him with a grin on her bright face.

"Hi, daddy!" Ashley greeted. The straight bangs across her forehead and pair of side pigtails framed her oval face. She was wearing a short sleeved blue top and judging from the one leg he could see she had matching blue leggings on as well.

"What time is it?" he moaned and tried to focus his blurry eyes on the clock on the bedside table. It said 9:15. AM or PM? he wondered as he glanced over at the drawn curtains.

"I don't know," Ashley shrugged and went back to what she was doing. John felt her moving on his backside and felt movement along the lower part of his back. If he didn't know better he'd swear she was scribbling on him.

"What are you doing?" he asked gruffly and swiped at his face with his left hand. His head was pounding dully and his mouth was dry.

"I could ask the same thing," a familiar voice called out. A moment later she came around the side of the bed and gave a loud gasp. "Ashley Magnus! What do you think you're doing?"

"Druitt," he grumbled and gave her a sour look.

"What?" Helen said as she looked down at him briefly before turning her attention back to their naughty child who was holding colored markers in each hand.

"Her name is Ashley Druitt-Magnus," John insisted. "You left out the Druitt part!"

Rolling her eyes she ignored his complaint and crossed her arms. "I asked you what you are doing, young lady!"

Unconcerned by her mother's stern tone, Ashley flashed a dimpled smile and said, "Hi, mommy. I'm coloring. Isn't it pretty?"

"Coloring," her parents repeated in unison.

"Uh huh," Ashley said and pressed the red marker down to finish off a flower.

"You're coloring on my back?" her confused father asked. That would explain why she was seated on his backside and he felt random movements now and then on his back. "Why?"

"Your birdie was lonely," the child explained and went to use the green marker on his back only to have her mother snatch it and the other marker out of her hands. "Hey!" she protested, "I'm not finished!"

"Oh yes you are," her mother reprimanded and sighed as she took in her child's masterpiece on the lower half of John's back. Beside his Phoenix tattoo Ashley had scribbled something that looked like an animal with three ears, a few flowers and had awkwardly written her name underneath it, probably to mirror the ancient Khmer lettering under the bird tattoo. Intrigued, she couldn't help but ask "What is this?" as she pointed to the animal.

"It's a unicorn," Ashley answered.

"And the reason you drew a unicorn on your father's back was because…" her mother prompted her.

"I want a unicorn," Ashley explained as if it were perfectly natural.

"I don't get it," her father said. "Why would drawing a unicorn on my back get you a unicorn?"

Looking up at her mom, Ashley replied earnestly, "I heard Henry tell Erika that a long time ago you were sad and wished really hard for me. Then daddy came here and spent the night and the next day you found the bird tattoo on his back and your wish came true and I was born nine months later. So I drew a unicorn on daddy's back next to his tattoo and in nine months I'll get a unicorn." She gave a nod of her head at her flabbergast parent and demanded her green marker back. "I have to give Penny some eyes," Ashley insisted.

"Let me guess," John dryly remarked as he stared over his shoulder at his daughter. His neck was getting crimped and he was resisting the urge to turn over and dump her off him. The lower half of his body was tingling as the weight of his daughter was putting his legs to sleep. "Penny's the unicorn."

"That's right," she beamed and held out her little hand to her mother.

John snorted. "That's pure Magnus speaking," he sarcastically drawled. "Only your side of the family would dream something like that up."

"Whereas only someone from the Druitt side of the family would think to pin someone down by sitting on them and put their mark on them," Helen retorted back in annoyance and motioned for Ashley to get off her father.

"But I have to put eyes on Penny," Ashley whined and stuck out her bottom lip stubbornly. "She can't see without eyes!"

"Oh, good Lord," Helen sighed and handed her the marker, causing the injured man to raise an eyebrow at her in surprise. "The unicorn needs eyes," she shrugged and he felt the marker poke him on the back twice as the child drew eyes on her creation. "Don't forget the eyelashes," her mother suggested and bit the corner of her mouth to suppress a giggle as Ashley added long streaks to the circles to denote eyelashes.

"What, no lipstick?" John grumbled and shook his head at the mother of his errant child. She was as naughty as their four year old.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot the lipstick," Ashley giggled and took the red marker from her mother's other hand to draw on big lips on her blue unicorn. Losing her composure, Helen laughed aloud and grabbed her daughter's head to ply kisses on her chubby cheeks. One thing her child was not was ever boring.

"If you're through graffiting my back I would like to turn over," John stated with a sigh. "My legs are asleep."

"Come on," Helen commanded. "It's time for you to have your lunch and I need to inspect your father's bandages."

"What's for lunch?" the child asked seriously as she swung her leg over and climbed off her father to sit down on the bed beside to him. "I want cheese pizza."

"You'll just have to go downstairs and find out," her mother answered and motioned with her finger for her to leave the room.

"Okay, but if it's baked fish and a salad again I'm not eating it," Ashley fussed with a wrinkle of her nose. "The Big Guy keeps trying to get us all to eat fish. Yuck!" With a big smack on her father's right buttocks that caused him to jump and Helen to laugh again, Ashley squealed "Bye, daddy! Don't forget to bring me my unicorn in nine months" and quickly climbed off the bed to rush out the door before he could get up to catch her.

The two adults stared at one another and shook their heads. "Did she ever do anything like this to you the first go round?" he queried.

"No, just to you, dear. Karma's a bitch," she retorted with a giggle and leaned down to kiss his cheek.

"Lucky me," he grumbled as she helped him sit upright and set about checking how well he was healing.

"So, how bad is it?" he asked as he tried to see his back in the dresser mirror across the room.

Pulling out the iPhone in her pocket she said, "I'll take a picture of it for you. Our daughter is quite the creative little artist. I've never seen a fat blue unicorn with three horns, green eyes and big red lips before." She giggled again as she snapped several pictures.

"You just want to take a picture to show the others," he accused and looked over his shoulder to find her smirking at him.

"Now, darling, whatever would give you that idea?" she smugly asked and winked at him as she pocketed the camera. Nikola and James were going to get a big kick out of seeing photos of John with Ashley's scribbles on him.

John was roused out of his recollection when Ashley gave a little murmur and shifted in her sleep. He had no idea how long he'd been sitting there looking at her sleeping and dreaming about the day she'd used her markers on him. Leaning down he gave her one last kiss, retrieve his coat and quietly left the room. As he reached for the door knob to his bedroom he wondered where his lover had wandered off to.

He got his answer as he stepped through the doorway and found her lying in bed on her side as if she were waiting for him. The covers were pulled up to her chin, which was resting on her left hand. Her right hand was curled around the top of the covers. "It's taken you long enough to put our daughter to sleep. I was beginning to think I was going to have to start on my own," she purred and gave him a feline smile.