Echolalia: the imitation by a baby of the vocal sounds produced by others.
December 19, 1973
They didn't notice the first snowfall until half the world was blanketed in white. When Andromeda had closed the curtains against the radiating chill, a howling wind was blowing a barren and dull landscape. When Ted scooped their ten-month-old daughter from her cot and gone to stand in the window, everything was sparkling with frost and flakes as large as sickles were pouring from the sky. It had come without their knowing, soft and gentle, and made everything that had been ugly beautiful.
Dora squealed with delight as Ted exclaimed over the snowflakes, holding her up close to the pane, snuggled warmly against his chest. Ted began to sing in his sweet, mellow baritone, winking at Andromeda who watched the two of them profiled against the bright window with reserved amusement and exasperation.
"Oh, the weather outside is frightful," Ted sang, stretching out a large hand to her. Andromeda pointedly busied herself with her quill. "But the fire is so delightful." Ted wrapped a warm arm around Andromeda's shoulders, pulling her gently from her chair. "And since we've no place to go…." He spun her in an elegant twirl, her long green robes flying out around her knees.
"Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow," she finished obligingly, a reluctant smile seeping across her face as she ended up tucked against her husband's chest, their daughter between them.
He kissed her forehead and sent her back to work with a final flourish. Andromeda returned to her papers with a grin that wouldn't slip, listening to Dora babbling away in the background. When had she started that constant stream of nonsense? Andromeda lost track of her work again, realizing that her daughter had a voice, a sweet, chirping voice with distinct hollows and twinges of accent all her own. It had started without her noticing, soft and gentle, and was making everything beautiful.
A/N: Very short, I know, but it is another update! :) I hadn't written them in a while and I found I missed them. It snowed here today, and my friend and I went walking at midnight in it and made a snowman in some stranger's front yard and swung in the park as the blizzard started up and sang Winter Wonder Land on the way home to take our mind off the fact that our fingers were so cold they hurt terribly. So, fluffy mood :) Hope you enjoyed it, short as it was!