DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN KINGDOM HEARTS OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS, JUST THIS PLOT AND ANNABETH.

II

Ventus frowned as Lea gently poked Annabeth's cheek. He'd just gotten her calm before he'd arrived and the last thing he wanted was for her to get all fussy again.

"So this is all it took for you to get all domesticated on me," Lea teased, a smirk on his lips. Ventus rolled his eyes.

"Not like I had much of a choice," Ventus said as he leaned against the coffee table, stretching his legs so that his feet rested against the base of the couch. Technically he did have a choice. He could've easily handed the babe over to someone else to care for, but that had seemed… Wrong. Maybe it was that her arrival to their home was similar to his or his almost instant attachment towards the tiny person or how much she was attached to him. He'd probably never know what caused him to claim her as his own and strangely enough, that didn't bother him one bit.

It was Lea's turn to roll his eyes. Ven's nonchalant attitude wasn't fooling him for even a fraction of a second. The guy was simply too kind for his own good sometimes.

"How come you're the one stuck with her instead of Aqua? She seems to be the most qualified for this kind of thing." Ventus's eyebrows shot up to his hairline at that."I didn't mean because she's a girl, Ven. I just mean… She seems more…" He really didn't want to use that word, but there really wasn't a better descriptive. "Motherly?"

Ventus laughed then. "I know what you mean. She's always been like that, even since we were kids." He allowed his head to tilt back and rest on the cool surface of the table, his eyes lolling closed for a moment.

"You still didn't answer my question."

"Yeah, I know." He sat back up. "Messing with her makes Terra anxious, which in turn makes her anxious, and the next thing ya know he's panicking with a screaming baby in his arms." A smirk graced his lips. It had been a very interesting scene to walk in on, especially when he noticed Terra looked to be seconds away from crying himself. The look of relief on the brunette's face when he'd spotted Ven was hilarious. "As for Aqua, she's busy most of the time and Annabeth likes me way better anyways."

Lea nodded, smiling at the drowsy baby. Someone, Ven he assumed, had propped her up on the couch with pillows. She seemed to be examining him with her shiny green eyes. He noticed something on her left cheek right under her eye and tried to wipe it off with his thumb, frowning when it remained stubbornly in place.

"It's a mole or a freckle or something," Ven spoke up. "I tried to wipe it off a million times yesterday. Everyone did."

Annabeth sneezed and they both started, looking far more startled than they should've been. Years of combat had them accustomed to readying themselves at the slightest sound, the instinct more often not than being the only thing that kept them alive, but in normal circumstances the habit made them look utterly ridiculous, especially when it was due to a baby sneezing of all things. Both men noticed how spooked the other looked and fell into a fit of laughter just as Sora walked in with stars in his eyes.

An unidentifiable noise left Sora's throat as has he spotted the baby, practically running Ventus over to get to her. "Kairi was telling the truth. You really do have a baby. She's so cute!"

Ven tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Why are you here and how did Kairi know about this?"

Sora temporarily paused his cooing and gushing to face Ven and Lea, sitting himself on the couch next the baby. "She and Aqua talk all the time, as for me being here…" He looked at Annabeth and grinned. "I didn't fully believe her and wanted to see for myself. Where'd she come from, anyways?"

"A stork brought her. Didn't your parents ever teach you that?" Lea asked, his face a mask of seriousness.

"Ha ha. Very funny, Axel," Sora drawled and Lea sighed. He'd long ago given up on the kid calling him by his real name, but that didn't make it any less exasperating. "Seriously, though, where did she come from?"

"Someone dumped her on the doorstep and Terra found her when he went out to train." The brunette had been furious when he and Aqua had found him, screaming basket in tow as he waltzed into the kitchen. "Whoever did it couldn't have been bothered to even leave us a note or knock before bailing." Ventus would be lying if he said the situation hadn't pissed him off as well.

"So, her name's Annabelle?"

"Annabeth," Ventus corrected him. He had a feeling he was going to have to make this correction more than he'd like in the coming days. He'd had to correct the pediatrician Aqua had hunted down dragged there earlier that day several times during his visit, the nurse accompanying his smiling apologetically each and every time. Said nurse had also informed them that while obtaining a crib was fine, co-sleeping was actually safer and psychologically better for Annabeth for a multitude of reasons, and seeing as how he was already growing used to it anyways, Ven decided to scrap the crib idea altogether.

Lea would probably pick on him if he found out he was sharing his bed with the baby, making comments on the lines of, "Well there goes your love life, not that you had one anyways." Which was exactly why he had avoided mentioning said fact, not that it was his business anyways.

Lea blinked slowly and he shifted uncomfortably from where he sat next to Ven. "Dude, why are you looking at me like that? Did I do something?"

"Huh? Oh! S-sorry," Ventus muttered, his cheeks heating up. He hadn't realized he'd been glaring at the poor guy, and for something he'd only imagined him saying at that. Oops.

Sora had returned to cooing at the baby, who'd yawned sleepily in return, looking the very image of disinterested. He puffed his cheeks out at her then. "Not much amuses her, huh?"

"Most babies don't care for much at that age. Don't take it personally, Sora," Ventus chuckled.

"She smiles at you," Lea drawled, crossing his arms over his knees and resting his head on them. He'd been up since four that morning trying to help Leon catch a Heartless that had been tormenting the marketplace for several days. He desperately wished to take nap.

"What? Really?!" Sora questioned, sounding very much like he was taking it personally. Babies normally loved him, so why not this one? "Why only Ven?"

"Because that sweet muffin only has eyes for one man in her life," Terra laughed from the kitchen doorway, ducking out of sight as Ventus slung a heavily beaded throw pillow at him. Ven winced as it soared straight into the kitchen sink, which so happened to be full of water at the time.

"Crap," He hissed as he darted out of the den to retrieve the pillow, Terra chuckling from the table as he took a bite out his sandwich. Ventus glared at him. "Watch Annabeth while I go dry this before Aqua finds out."

"What? No! She doesn't like me-"

"Two things," Ven said, cutting him off. "Sora and Lea know less about babies than you do and you're not allowed to touch the dryer after what happened last time. I'll be back in, like, five minutes. You'll be fine."

This story has gotten more attention than I thought it would. I think it's safe to assume that you guys like the idea too, huh?

Anyhoo, leave me your sweet sweet thoughts in the form of reviews~3