AN: Sorry it took me so long to finish this chapter. Everything's just kind of gone haywire for me lately. My cat and rabbit both died and I wasn't in a very good place for a while there but I'm doing better and I'm back at writing so here we go. I hope you like it! It was honestly a lot of fun to write.
AN2: I just went through and edited this chapter a bit. I was kind of all over the place so I did my best to fix it. Things like fixing pronouns, moving events, remembering that Skrel exists, and changing the fact that he was somehow handed Kimiko twice without ever giving her back.
LLB
The classroom was alive with chatter as the ten students filed in and sat at their desks.
"So this is a human health class?" Krel asked, sitting at the desk next to Eli's.
"Yup. But don't worry too much about it." Jim turned around in his seat, "I doubt Coach will explain it all again. And we're all just here to redo a project that was ruined by magic last year."
"I just hope we can actually get through this project before the world decides to end again," Seamus rest his head on his arms.
"I just hope there are no magical mishaps this time," Toby turned, "We have to try and survive the entire weekend."
"You don't get to say anything." Mary argued, "Your's actually survived last time."
Most of the class nodded in agreement. The door to the classroom opened again and Coach entered with Morgana and Barbara right behind him. He stood in front of his desk and crossed his arms.
"Alright. If you are in this class right now that means that the last time we did this magic caused your failure, you are new to this planet, and/or your parents signed off for you to redo it." He said, "But, this time, it'll be a little different."
The room of supernatural teens sat up and exchanged a look. A grin spread over Coach's face.
"But, before you begin to personalize your babies, I'm going to have some of you come up and draw a number from the hat." He pulled off his hat and dropped a handful of folded papers into it. "Everyone in columns one and three, come draw a number."
Everyone turned to stare at him. Coach just shook the old ball cap at them. Morgana and Barbara whispered conspiringly behind the desk. Slowly, Jim, Darcy, Krel, Steve, and Seamus lined up to take their numbers before returning to their seats.
"Alright, just like last time, the person sitting next to you is your partner," Coach put his hat back on.
Krel raised his hands.
"The number on your paper is how many babies you have."
His hands dropped and a chill fell over the room. They all looked down at their still folded papers.
"One group at a time, come up and collect your babies."
Even more slowly than before, the pairs of students approached the desk and took a number of flour sacks.
Eli and Krel heaved a sigh of relief that they had drawn a one. Steve yelped and held up his hand.
"Palchuck?"
"Coach, please tell me this doesn't actually say seven." He croaked.
Coach chuckled and rubbed his eyes with one hand, "No, son. That's a one."
"Oh, thank god," Steve gasped before he and Aja stood to take their flour sack. (1)
Toby and Darcy took two and Jim and Claire accepted two as well. Mary and Seamus sat at their desks, staring at their slip of paper.
"Come on, you two." Coach called, "We still have more steps before you get to the arts and crafts portion."
They both swallowed thickly and went up to the desk to obtain the last three sacks of flour. Once everyone was back at their desks, Coach heft a tote of craft supplies onto his desk.
"Alright, before you can personalize your babies, toss a coin for each sack of flour. Heads for boy, tails for girl. (2)" He directed, "Then, I want you to write down what your babies will actually look like. Actually think about it this time. And, since this ain't exactly a human class, I wanna see you incorporate the supernatural genetics as well."
Everyone shuffled for their bags and grabbed what they would need. Once they had filled out the papers with the information for the babies. Only once a paper was filled out for each baby and turned in to Coach were they allowed to start decorating the flour sacks.
Eli and Krel finished first and brought their flour sack to the desk where Barbara and Morgana were waiting. If it were at all possible, their grins grew even larger. Morgana cast the spell on the first flour sack and the whole room fell silent. A glowing blue akoridian infant with big brown eyes and large silver wings sat on the desk, looking up at her "parents". Jim and Claire looked down at their flour sacks, Toby rest his elbows on his desk and covered his mouth, Seamus simply lay his head on his desk. Mary raised her hand.
"Scaarbach?"
"Are you aware that most of us have at least one infant in the house already?" She was still staring at the baby on the front desk.
"Everyone's folks signed off on this, which means that they approved it." Coach insisted.
"It's still a flour sack, Mary," Barbara explained, "It's just a little more…interactive. Like the baby dolls used in some other schools but more personalized."
The students still looked down at their flour sacks while Eli and Krel returned to their seats and pushed the desks together. Two by two, the groups went up to have the spell put on their sacks of flour, last again being Mary and Seamus with their three. The school bell rang and they all made their way to Heartstone Trollmarket. They were still getting used to the shadow of Avalon falling over most of their walk.
In Trollmarket, Jim transformed and jumped as both of him and Claire's babies transformed as well. He groaned, handed the baby to Claire, and flew off to check that his Trollmarket was still stable while everyone else made their way to Mary's underground lake. They all sat on the stones surrounding the lake. Save Mary, who took one of her and Seamus's babies and sat in the water, both of them transforming.
Toby rubbed his eyes, "Alright. If there's multiple of these babies and/or you already have a baby in your household and you're not going to be sleeping this weekend, raise your hand."
All hands went up.
"Yeah. That's what I thought."
"Saturday's the full moon," Mary reminded them all, "Do you think our pup will transform too?"
"All the other transforming babies have so far so I don't see why he wouldn't," Seamus shrugged, adjusting his hold on the remaining two babies.
"We need to find a way to make sure you guys don't have eight babies in the house at once." Steve shook his head.
"I'm fine with taking Aletta for two days if you can take her on Saturday," Eli offered his boyfriend, "It's not much but it's one less baby that'll be in the house that night."
"It's not like we're not all going to be together when we can." Jim glided into the chamber and landed beside Claire, "Who all has work this weekend? I know I'm going to be here the whole time. But if I can maintain Heartstone during the end of the world with two toddlers tailing me, I can handle two infants."
"I mean, I'll probably be here all weekend too." Claire shrugged, "No human school means more time for magic studies."
"Full moon," Seamus bounced the two babies in his arms, "I requested the whole weekend off for it."
"Maybe I'll just set up a tent and stay here for the weekend," Mary splashed the little mermaid in her arms, "I've already got Belrok and Skrel in my room. If I bring in even one more infant it's gonna be chaos!"
"I can take them tonight and on Sunday but I'm not going to have thumbs on Saturday," Seamus insisted.
"We'll also have four to figure out at our place," Aja pointed out.
"I don't mind taking Lance for two nights but I have work on Sunday," Steve told her, "If you can take him for that night then there's that all figured out."
"Same here," Darcy turned to Toby, "I don't have any littles in my house so I don't mind taking the twins for two nights but I also have a game to mascot on Saturday."
"Nope. I'm just staying here this weekend." Mary shook her head and sunk deeper into the water. "We won't survive Saturday."
LLB
Jim sighed as he entered his keep within the heartstone. Juliette and Charlotte babbled as he carefully set them on his bed against the wall.
"You're sure you don't mind watching them for now?" Claire asked again.
"Positive, Claire," He promised, turning to look at her, "You've got potions work to do this afternoon and I don't. I'll just run up to Mum and Da's house for a bit and grab Wally and Xena's old twin carrier and stroller so we can take them both at the same time and then I'll do my deliveries. We'll be fine."
"Alright," Claire looked down at the flour sack babies, "But no putting them on the vespa. You have to walk."
"Can I fly?" He offered, grinning.
"If you drop one, I'm telling Coach and making him fail you."
Jim chuckled and held his hands up in surendure, "Understood. No dropping the littles."
Claire gave him one more firm nod before heading deeper into the heartstone and into the lab. Jim watched her go. Then, he emptied his backpack on his desk in the keep. He usually stayed in Heartstone over the weekends now. He took another deep breath and picked up Juliette and Charlotte. He didn't fly and took his time to walk through his trollmarket. He wasn't trying to hurry or drop off any of his deliveries right now. He was just trying to get through and head back to his parents' house.
Trolls all through the market smiled and waved. He nodded at each of them. No one had ever questioned when he had babies in tow. Not when someone had a family as large as his. He just shook his head and bounced his twins as he jogged up the crystal staircase. The second he stepped out of the shadow of the Arcadia bridge, however, he jumped back with a yelp. Charlotte was crying. A patch of her dark violet stone skin was burned grey.
"Just how powerful is this spell?" He gasped, sitting in the shadow to try and sooth her.
Hearing her sister cry, Juliette burst into tears of her own. Jim groaned and bounced them both. Eventually, he got them both quiet. Then he transformed and watched as they both followed his lead.
"Wait a second," He said, forcing himself back to his feet, "Why would you be sensitive to the sun? I'm immune and Claire is human. Both of you should be immune too, right?"
Neither flour sack baby gave a response. He just sighed and continued along the forest path to the cul de sac he had called home his entire life. The garage door was waiting open and both of his parents' cars were waiting in the driveway.
He felt his stomach drop when he opened the door. The walls of the house were already bare, the photos and awards already packed into the boxes stacked along the wall by the stairs. It wouldn't be long before they were ready to move into the Avalon Castle.
"Oh, there he is," Barbara teased, leaning in from the kitchen, "I honestly thought you would be here much sooner."
"I had to check on Heartstone and we all got together for a bit to try and make sure Onkel O and Tanta Jay don't have eight babies in the house at once," Jim explained, setting both babies on the floor by the sofa.
Wally and Xena dashed into the room and he carefully caught them around the waists before they could run over his homework.
"Whelp. That didn't last long." He grunted as he straightened.
Walt chuckled from his spot at the dining table.
"Yeah, those two are a handful at the best of times," He whispered, bowing back over his paperwork.
"Avalon or High School?" Jim asked, stepping up to his side.
"Grading," Walter smiled, "I never thought I would miss grading until I started planning for a coronation."
Jim nodded, "Yeah. I never thought I would miss homework until I became market leader."
"The things for the babies are by the back door," Barbara told him, "How's it been going so far?"
"You mean the past hour?" Jim carefully set Wally and Xena back on the floor, "Not bad. I wasn't expecting them to actually be able to transform but we can work with that. But, you know if you wanted us to better understand parental responsibility, you could have just sent the twins to Heartstone with me this weekend. And it would have given the two of you the weekend to get some Avalon or moving stuff done."
Barbara shrugged, "True. But this way you can also make up one of the assignments you missed when having to save the world every other day. Not a lot of opportunities for that."
"And your mother can just teleport everything to the castle," Walter reminded him.
Jim frowned again and nodded, "Right. Well, I should take the girls and head back. Trollmarkets don't take care of themselves and I do have human homework this weekend. Homework that won't need diaper changes."
Barbara nodded and kissed his cheek, "Alright. Call if you need anything and give your grandmother our love."
Jim hummed and nodded. He strapped his babies into the twin stroller and heft the pack n' play over his shoulders. With the stroller, he couldn't quite take the forest path back to the canal. He would just have to take the long way around.
Charlotte and Juliette babbled happily in the stroller and looked around at whatever they could. Jim smiled. He had made this walk with Wally and Xena plenty of times and he would likely make it plenty times more.
LLB
Krel sat on the floor of him and Tronos's room and lay Aletta on the floor. She immediately rolled over and looked around.
"Alright, I think we have everything she's going to need for now," Eli said, sitting next to him, "You're sure you don't mind taking her on for two days? The only day I can't take her is on Saturday."
"I really don't mind," Krel insisted, "It's just me and Tronos in here and Morgana's not due for a while yet. We should be fine. You have to get up early tomorrow morning for work. I'm just here."
Aletta squealed and wiggled, slapping her hand on the floor in front of her. Tronos stood paralyzed in the doorway.
"Why isss there another one in our room?" He hissed, "Where did it come from? Did you make thisss?"
"It's ok, Tronos," Eli held up one hand, "She's just our homework."
"And she's only here for the weekend," Krel assured him.
He picked Aletta back up and stepped over to his roommate, "Aletta, this is Tronos. He lives here too."
Tronos reared back and glared down at the baby. Then, he sniffed her.
"Why doesss ssshhhe sssmell like a bakery?"
"Because she's a sack of flour," Krel explained, "They just used magic to make her look and act like a real baby. We have to take care of her for the weekend."
Tronos didn't look any more satisfied but he ambled over to his nest and layed down. Krel looked over his shoulder at Eli. He shrugged. Aletta squealed again and tugged on Krel's shirt. He sat back with Eli and balanced the baby in his lap.
"Sooo…What do we do with her now?" He asked, "I've never exactly spent a lot of time with a baby before."
"There's not really much that needs to be done right now," Eli shrugged, "She shouldn't need to eat for a while and we just changed her diaper. We can play with her or exercise with her. Maybe take her for a walk."
He leaned over and tickled Aletta's feet, causing her wings to flap and lift her off the ground for a moment.
"Why would your parents make you redo this assignment if you already know how to take care of a baby?" Krel asked, holding his hands under Aletta's belly so she wouldn't land on the stone floor.
Eli shrugged, "I mean, I'm no expert or anything. And it gives me a chance to make up this grade since we had to sacrifice our flour sacks to stop a gruesome last time…What are real Akoridian babies like? Like, how accurate is this spell?"
Krel hummed, "It is not inaccurate. I guess it depends on how the babies were made."
"Made?"
"There is more than one way to make babies on Akoridian V." Krel explained, "Many Akoridians prefer to use the incubator. Some people do…it the same way it is done on Earth. Mama and Papa made Aja and I with the incubator."
Eli nodded slowly, "So…Kind of like how most trolls can have pregnancies or use the birthstones?"
"Exactly!" Krel grinned, watching as Aletta fluttered her wings and hovered again, "Though, I'll admit, I've never seen a baby like this."
"Yeah, I don't think there's ever really been an opportunity to combine fairy and Akroidian DNA before." Eli played with two of Aletta's hands, "And most real baby fairies wouldn't get their wings until they're nearly a year old. I even got mine late because I was so early."
"That's right. You were born early so you had to be put in an incubator as well."
Eli nodded, "Yeah."
LLB
"OK. I think Mom and Coach will let me use Becky's playpen for the weekend but that will also mean that we'll have to haul it back and forth when we switch off." Steve explained as he pushed open back door of his house.
"I can live with that." Aja shrugged, adjusting her hold on the baby, "We can use my hoverboard to make it easier."
"That'll work."
"Steve?" His mother called from deeper in the house, "Is that you?"
"Yeah, Ma!" He called back, "I've got Aja with me to work on homework."
He waved her along and into the living room. His mother was sitting on the floor in front of the sofa with his little sister in front of her.
"It wouldn't happen to be the homework your father assigned, would it?" Mary smiled up at them.
"It is!" Aja grinned back, "This is Lancelot."
"We're calling him Lance for short."
Mary chuckled and helped Rebecca stand in front of her, "Dear lord, I didn't think he would actually follow through with it."
"So you knew that he was planning this?" Steve gestured at Lance.
"Of course I did. Someone had to sign your permission slip and it couldn't exactly be the teacher."
Aja rolled her eyes and set Lance on the floor next Becky. Becky babbled and reached one hand out to the new baby. Lance gurgled back. Mary cooed.
"Oh!"She looked back up a Steve, "Steve, could you take out the trash for me? I didn't get a chance to today and tomorrow is garbage day."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm on it." He sighed and went back to the kitchen.
Mary watched him go before turning back to Aja and the babies, "So, who gets first watch?"
"I'm taking him tonight and Steve is taking him tomorrow since I'm going to have other babies in the house on Saturday." Aja explained, "It's the full moon and they're trying to minimize the amount of babies in the Scaarbach house."
Mary winced, "That's right. There must be so many in that house right now. I'm glad we just have Becky and Steve. Even if one of them is a little more work than the other."
"Hey!" Steve said as he reentered, "And just when I was going to suggest you and Coach go out tonight."
"And what? Leave you with two babies?" Mary looked up at him.
"Why not?" Steve joined them on the floor, "You guys haven't gone out since before Becky was born, Aja and I can watch her and Lance for a while before the two of them head home for the night, and you two can have some alone time. And it's the weekend so neither of you have the work excuse today."
"Fine. I'll talk to your father about it when he gets home."
"Talk to me about what?" Coach stepped in from the garage.
"Us going out tonight and leaving these two in charge," Mary turned to face him, "Steve's making a pretty good argument."
"I don't see why not," Coach shrugged, "We haven't been out since Becky was born and it's not like these two dumdums can get into too much trouble if they have babies with them."
"Go to know you have so much faith in us," Steve rolled his eyes, "But, on the topic of the babies, can Aja and I use Becky's playpen for Lance this weekend? We just need it for him to sleep in for the most part."
"Yeah, sure," Mary shrugged and handed Becky to Coach.
LLB
"I'm still really sorry that I can't take them on Saturday."
"It's fine, Darc," Toby insisted, "We'll work it out. Maybe I can bring them to watch you at the game. That way we'll be at the house less."
"That would be nice," Darcy smiled as she shouldered open the door."
"There you...are?" Luis stopped in the doorway to the kitchen.
He stared at his daughter, her boyfriend, and the two babies in his arms. The babies were young enough to not look very different from each other. The same medium brown skin, sane dark brown curls. But one had Toby's bright green eyes and the other had Darcy's deep brown. Darcy laughed at the look on her father's face.
"This is the assignment for health class." She explained, "Remember? You signed the permission form saying that they would be putting a spell on the flour sacks this time?"
"I thought they were just going to make it cry!" Luis gasped, "Maybe make it water proof. I didn't think they would give me a minor heart attack!"
Darcy rolled her eyes to Toby. He chuckled and stepped forward.
"Would you like to hold one, Sir?" He offered, "The boy is Sir Issac and the girl is Maria."
"Maria?" Luis took the offered baby.
"What was that?" His wife pushed around him into the living room, "Oh!"
Darcy smiled, "Hey, Maria."
Maria blinked down at the babies before turning back to Darcy, "I'm going to go out on a limb and say magic was involved?"
"Yep. It's the flour sack project from health class again," Darcy nodded, "Daddy just didn't read the fine print."
"Makes sense." Maria ignored the look from her husband and took Issac, "So, what are their names?"
"The boy is Sir Issac Gluten," Toby repeated, "And the girl is Maria."
"...Oh…"
Darcy grinned, "We're just here to figure out our "custody arrangement" and get the two of them settled for tonight."
"That-That's right," Luis bounced Little Maria gently, "Scaarbach, both of your siblings have babies, too. Don't they?"
"Yeah. And our parents." Toby slumped, "And our aunt...It's going to be a very long weekend."
Maria chuckled and handed Issac back, "Well, we won't keep you. Dinner will be ready in a little bit. Good luck."
"Thanks." Darcy handed Issac back to Toby. "TB, why don't you take the two of them up to my room. I'm going to see if my old playpen is in the attic."
"You got it, Darc." Toby took Little Maria from Luis and followed her up the stairs. He glanced back over his shoulder, "I still don't think your dad likes me very much."
"He's still getting used to me dating," She assured him, "He'll come around. Promise."
She turned right at the landing while Toby headed left to her bedroom. The door to the attic was at the far end of the hall. She pulled the chain for the light and poked around. Dust covered boxes filled most of the space, old furniture filling what was left. Including her old crib, a rocking chair, and the old pack 'n play. Why her father had kept it all after she had outgrown it was still a mystery to her. She tugged the pack n' play out and stumbled back out the door. She took a moment to catch her breath as she shut the door and leaned against the door.
"I still think you overreacted a little there, Hon."
Darcy looked up and over to the stairs. Maria?
"Ok. Maybe I did." He dad said, "I just...I'm still figuring this out. You can't say that it wasn't surprising!"
"Of course it was. But it didn't take long to figure out that it was magic. And if you had read the-"
"Don't say fine print." Luis huffed, "Magic is still new to me. And how was I supposed to know exactly what the spell would do even if I had read the fine print. That boy's not even magic. He's an alien."
"Akoridian." Darcy muttered, dragging the Pack n' Play down the hall.
"Akoridian, Hon." Maria corrected.
"Right...Accordion….But that's not even the problem." Luis continued, "She's still my baby girl. I'm still adjusting to her dating more than anything."
"Of course you are. But how do you think she felt when we started dating? I know we get along well now but you know that wasn't always the case. No teenager is going to be happy when their daddy starts dating again."
"I know." He sighed, "She's growing up but...I don't think I'm ready...Maybe I should make a note, huh? About the thing with Scaarbach and about the thing with Darcy...Talk with Michael about it…"
Darcy peaked around the corner to look down at her parents. He dad was now sitting on the edge of the sofa, Maria standing behind him. His therapy notebook sitting out on the coffee table. (3)
"That might be best." Maria nodded, "And you might need to talk to the two of them, too."
"Baby steps, Mia." Luis looked up at her, "Let me talk to Michael first and then I'll talk to the kids."
Darcy ducked back behind the wall and sighed. She shook her head and picked the playpen back up. In her bedroom, Toby had transformed and was using both sets of arms to bounce Isaac and Little Maria on the bed. Maria had transformed, waving all four of her arms as Toby played with them.
"Hey, Darc." He looked over at her, "Everything ok?"
"Yeah. I think so." She smiled and leaned the playpen against her dresser. "So, back to planning. What are we going to do about these two this weekend? I'm free during the day tomorrow so you'll just have the night shift. You said something about coming to the game?"
LLB
Mary sighed and shifted her hold on Timmy. It had been a long time since she hadn't wanted to go home. Seamus yelped as Kimiko pulled on his ear. He shifted his hold on both the girls.
"You can't put it off forever," He said, "He'll hunt you down if you don't come home."
"I know," She heft Timmy higher on her hip, "I'm more surprised you're not worried about him killing you before I can explain. He's expecting them to look like the sack of flour in the kitchen."
"I just kind of figure he won't kill me while I'm holding your babies." He shrugged.
Mary shrugged and led the way up the stairs and to the door. They were met with Skrel waiting on the other side.
"Hello, Ung Kona. How was...schooling?" They tilted their head as they looked down at the babies. "Who are these?"
"Skrel, let them in." Lenora looked up from the dining table, "Oh...That's what Barbara meant by 'full house'…"
"Vvas?" Otto stepped out of Antonia's room, eyes widening as he saw the three babies, "Mein Gott."
"Yeah. He decided to add numbers this time," Seamus chuckled, "We got the three for one deal."
"So, what are their names?" Lenora asked.
Seamus bounced the babies in his arms, "This one is Guinevere, she's human. And this one is Kimiko, she's our little mermaid."
"And this one is our boy: Sir Timothy Johnathan III. He's a werewolf."
Skrel continued to stair at the babies. The temperature dropped.
"Skrel? You ok?" Mary put a hand on his shoulder.(4)
"Where did they come from?" They whispered.
Mary swallowed, "They're the flour sacks from health class. Like I told you we were doing at school."
They fixed her with a look, "You do not have to lie to me. I know these are not sacks of flour. These are infants. Where did they come from."
She looked up at Seamus. He paled and looked over to her parents. Otto handed Antonia to Lenora and sat at the table. Then he rest his elbows on the table and placed his chin in his hands to watch the chaos unfold. He groaned and looked back at Mary.
"Magic." Mary tried. "They are sacks of flour but they have a spell on them so they look and act like real babies,"
"Do you want to hold one?" Seamus offered.
Skrel glared at him and looked down the babies. Seamus smiled, undeterred, and turned slightly to offer one baby.
"Why don't you hold Kimiko. She's a mermaid like Mary."
Skrel mumbled and held out their hands. Seamus smiled and stepped forward so they could take the baby. Skrel held her at arms length. Kimiko giggled and kicked her legs.
"Skrel? Have you ever held a baby before?" Mary asked, "I know you've never asked to hold Belrok."
"I did not want to burn them." They explained, not looking up from the baby in their arms. "It has been a...very long time."
Mary nodded and gently guided her frost spirit to hold the baby properly, "Well, it's more comfortable to hold her like this."
Skrel held Kimiko against their chest and tilted their head. With a waved of one had, a tiny flurry fluttered down on them both. Kimiko's eyes widened and she squealed with delight. Skrel stumbled but everyone else laughed.
Footsteps on the staircase made Mary turn. Liza's eyes widened and she held Belrok closer. She had her bag over one shoulder and Belrok's diaper bag over the other.
"Hi, Tanta Liza. Where are you two off to?" She asked.
"Eli sent me pictures." Liza shook her head, "I'm not staying here for that. Belrok and I are going to stay at Douxie's this weekend."
Mary blinked, "That might actually be a good idea. I was thinking of taking a tent and staying at the lake this weekend since Toby's going to have his on Saturday as well and that is a lot of babies in one house."
"I shall accompany," Skrel insisted, handing Kimiko back to Seamus, "I will get your things."
"I thought you would say that," Mary nodded, "I'll be right up."
They nodded and drifted up the stairs.
"How many does Bärchen have?" Otto lift an eyebrow.
Mary just smiled and shook her head. Then she followed Skrel up the stairs. Seamus chuckled and heft the babies in his arms.
LLB
On Saturday afternoon, all the New Knights agreed to meet at Mary's lake. Jim and Claire were the first to arrive, coming strait from their keeps in the Heartstone. When they arrived, Mary and Seamus were still setting up the tent. Their triplets babbled in the playpen, easily distracted by Skrel's ice magic as he watched over them, and Seamus was already in half-wolf form.
"I thought you were staying all weekend?" Claire lift an eyebrow.
"Mama and Papa made a pretty good point that I didn't need to be here if I didn't have the babies last night." Mary shrugged, "Then they suggested that I bring our two room tent instead of my single so there would be more room for the playpen."
Jim nodded, "Makes sense."
"We brought food!" Eli announced as he and Krel wandered in.
"We figured since we didn't have as many babies as the rest of you we'd bring something along." Krel shrugged, bouncing Aletta on his hip.
"Thanks guys!" Seamus called over his shoulder, "Does someone wanna help me with this side? I get the feeling this isn't a two person set up…"
Eli rolled his eyes and set the food on one of the rocks. He nudged Seamus out of the way and helped Mary finish setting up. Mary leaned around the back of the tent to smile at her brother. Seamus rolled his eyes and joined Skrel in playing with the babies.
"Are we late?" Steve was carrying Lance into the cavern.
"You're not even the last one here," Jim waved him off, "We're still waiting on Toby and Darcy."
"Darcy's game is only just getting out so they might be a little bit," Mary explained.
"That makes sense," Aja nodded, taking Lance and putting him in the playpen with Kimi, Timmy, and Gwen.
"That might not actually be a good idea," Seamus told her, "It's nearly sundown and we don't know how Timmy's going to react to the transformation."
Aja picked her son back up and stepped away. Mary nodded and lifted out Gwen. Skrel scooped Kimi into his arms and held her fiercely. Seamus took Timmy and took a few steps away.(5)
"I'm sure this will all end well," Krel lift an eyebrow.
"None of us know what's going to happen," Jim admitted, "Neither Mum nor Gran will tell us just how accurate this spell is and how it actually affects the babies."
"The best we can do is wait and see," Claire bounced Juliette.
Both Juliette and Charlotte transformed and giggled. Jim smiled down at Charlotte and held her over his head.
Eli went back over to the bag of food, "Anyone want to start a fire? We can get cooking once we have one."
"I'll get it," Steve looked around.
"You get the fire wood," Claire told him, "Angor's been teaching me some fire spells so I want to practice."
"Sorry we're late!" Darcy shouted, "The game ran long!"
She was still half in her mole suit and trying to change as she ran. Toby was hot on her heels, a baby in each arm.
"It's fine," Mary waved them off, "We just got the tent up and we're about to get started on the food."
"Then it's a good thing we brought drinks from the game," Toby turned to shake his backpack at them.
"Bwarf!"
They all turned to see Seamus trotting back towards them, a little silver wolf puppy bouncing in front of him. Mary squealed and knelt down to meet the puppy.
"Why did it not occur to me that a werewolf baby would be a puppy?" she asked.
Kimi and Gwen squealed and reached out to their brother. Skrel knelt beside Mary so all three babies could be together. Seamus boofed and licked each of their faces.
LLB
1) This joke was bad and I should feel bad about it. But I don't.
2) This was just what we did when my class did this. Except we were just designing babies and not actually doing a flour sack project.
3) This is what my best friend and I tend to do. We don't always recognize ourselves what we need to remember to tell our therapists so we jot it down in a notebook
4) Mary practically already has a kid. Why does she have to redo this project?
5) If anyone was worried about the kids getting attached to the four sack babies. No need to worry. It's Skrel you should be worried about.
6) Wanda (My name for Shannon's girlfriend) and Logan were the other kids in the original episode so I'm just going with they opted not to redo the project but they probably would have gotten 3 as well.