Angela looked down in the little basket that she had. The child was fast asleep and matter of fact he wasn’t that old at all. She put a blanket over the basket and handed it to Raine. “I want you to stay out here until I’m ready. Take care of him okay? I put him to sleep so he doesn’t ruin the surprise.” Raine nodded and romped off to the garden with the basket.

Knocking on the door Angela smiled as the butler answered, “I know that this is sudden but can I speak to the master of the house? Possibly both of them. Tell them that a friend is here to see them.” The butler nodded and let the Goddess into the house. Angela looked like an everyday noble so it was quite weird to see her all fancy with makeup since most of the time she was natural. She wasn't quite sure if the house help would let her in otherwise.

She was led to the family room where she waited on the soft plush couch. This was a really nice castle and she could see what the others were talking about. It had gotten back to her through others what Lewis and Simone were up to. She still felt quite bad about the situation that she had left the young phoenix in.

“Master?” The butler knocked on the door of their room. “A friend is here to see both you and the missus. She didn’t give me a name but she had red hair. She’s down in the family room sir.”

Simone was cuddling with Lewis when she opened her eyes and looked up at him, “What do you think she could want? I didn’t know she did house calls…” But even then… What could she possibly want from them?

Lewis roused himself from the bed, and stretched his arms to the sky. He wasn’t sure what was happening, or why Lady Angela was visiting, but they at least had to play the nice host for the time being. Not that Lewis had anything against the Goddess, but he hated the fact that a deity was making a house call. It was usually bad news when Lord Raith had to come find Lewis, and thankfully that had rarely happened…

Lewis was dressed in an oddly more noble attire from his usual drab garb, with a rather noble looking white shirt and dark blue vest, and darker pants to accentuate. He descended the stairs with Simone to greet his newly arrived guest.

“Indeed it is Lady Angela,” Lewis said. Despite his choice of words, it was spoken with his usual dull, disinterested tone. “And what, pray tell, brings you to our lovely island.” How the hell did you even find this place. If you weren’t a Goddess, I’d be skeptical… He adjusted his shirt and vest, obviously uncomfortable in the garb. He was still trying to get used to it. Interviews for adoptions and all were a pain…

Angela was sipping tea when the two finally came down, “Your butler makes a good chamomile tea. Is it one of your favorites then?” Simone nodded to her and Angela noticed how well she was looking. “Also to answer your question: Rhenakos has a huge mouth. I just confirmed with Raile while threatening to invalidate his marriage to my daughter if he didn’t.” Angela could play dirty.

She didn’t want to ruin the surprise for them. Simone came over and sat across from the goddess. She was wearing her usual noble attire and her hair was pulled back in loose black curls. “I suppose that explains how you found us… but it doesn’t answer why you are giving us a house call? Is my health bad?”

Angela finished her cup of tea and set it down. “No, Rhenakos told me about your goal of opening an orphanage and I just wanted to be supportive of that.”

“Rhenakos doesn’t have a right to tell you anything,” Simone frowned a bit.

The goddess held up her hand, “Then perhaps coming here was a mistake and I shouldn’t have done what I did for you both.”

Lewis was skeptical of the whole thing. Lady Angela was definitely being catty about something, but he wasn;t about to be the one to mouth off to her. She was a lot stronger than he was, and despite it being their home, she was in complete control of the situation. Even Simone was feeling something was up with the way she was being, and it was starting to upset her.

But finally, the Goddess gave a clue as to why she was here. A reason for her visit. Lewis looked at her with a certain curiosity, and asked the question that Lady Angela coaxed out. ‘

“What is it that you’ve done for us?” The words seemed heavy. There was definitely something different in the house. There was a presence that he recognized deeper in the castle, in the garden courtyard. It had to have been Raine. “Does it have anything to do with Raine hiding in the garden?” But why is that runt hiding?

“Aye, Raine is keeping something safe for me,” Angela smiled and got up for a moment. “I’ll be right back.” She yelled for Raine who came to meet her in the room. “Thank you, Raine. I want you to give Simone the basket.”

Raine nodded and was very gentle as she walked over to Simone and held out the basket. It had a cute blanket over it and Simone was scared to take it at first. It had a simple weight to it and Simone felt the basket move. “Don’t drop it, Simone,” Raine smiled at her.

“What did you do Angela?”

“I only stepped in. It was nothing I caused I promise you.”

Simone’s hand was shaky as she took the basket and set it on her lap. There was a little whine from inside as she pulled the blanket down. A baby who was swaddled up with little tuffs of white hair. Little gray eyes were staring up. “Angela…”

“His mother passed away giving birth and he has no immediate family. He looked enough like you two I couldn’t help myself. My son gave me a lot of grief from lifting him from the orphanage in Arri before the paperwork could be processed but I told him that the baby was going to a good home.”

Simone was oddly quiet as she lifted the tiny boy out of the basket. “How old is he?”

“About a day and a half.” It made Simone pull in her breath as Angela spoke.

Simone looked up at Lewis, “What do you think?” Her voice was quiet.

The whole exchange between Raine and Simone had Lewis on edge for some reason. Whatever was in the basket was extremely valuable and important. When Simone finally revealed a small baby, Lewis’s eyes widened. There was a clash of several different emotions. Some of it was Simone, and some of it was his own feelings. Fear of raising the child, and more so fear of failure, but also something good. The life that was brought before him was something that he felt he needed to protect. That little baby would soon be running around, happy and full of life and love, better than what he was given when he was out on the streets.

All of this could be felt by Simone, but words wouldn’t come. Lewis didn’t know what to say, or even how to say it. Instead, he merely looked at Simone, and then the baby.

“Can…I hold them?” he asked. Simone carefully handed the baby over, showing Lewis how to hold them. He was nervous, and it made little sense why. The man could kill in over fifty different ways with perfect precision, and not bat an eye, yet somehow holding this baby was more nerve wracking than anything he had ever done in his life.

“It’s…so tiny,” he said.

Simone smiled at Lewis and helped him hold the baby, “He really is. It’s a boy right?” Angela nodded to them. “So… We have a son?”

“If Lewis is alright with it,” Angela smiled a bit. “I felt really guilty about not being able to give you what you wanted so I was keeping my eye out in Sularia. It happens a lot there where children lose their mothers and there isn’t a father.”

Simone had caught a few keywords and looked up at Angela, “Did you steal a baby for us?”

Angela froze a bit and got nervous as she looked away from them, “Is it really stealing a baby if I had a good home for him?”

“Oh. My. Gods. You did steal a baby.” Simone was in shock.

“My son Lucian did all the paperwork for him. If you don’t want him I can take him back. Like I said it’s up to Lewis,” Angela smiled at Lewis. The baby began to fuss and Simone shushed at him and gently bounced Lewis’s arms. He got quiet and just stared at them like they stared at him.

“Lewis, I love him already,” Simone was quiet and her heart was pounding hard as she put her head on his shoulder. “Can we keep him?”

Lewis had no idea how to actually respond to Simone’s question. He was entranced at how the baby moved and made little sounds as it tried to understand the things happening around him. When he was in the guild, he had dealt with young kids, but they were never this young. This was an entirely new experience.

“He’s looking at me,” Lewis said, a little unsure of what to say or feel. Their eyes were locked on each other, and the assassin felt nervous, but willing to do anything for this baby boy. It took a lot of effort to tear his eyes away from the stormy gray ones, and he looked at Lady Angela.

“…you stole a baby?” Lewis was confused. Did that mean someone would come for him? He looked back down at the child, and was once again enamored by the boy. “If anyone comes for him…they won’t get far. I wouldn’t let them…” It was oddly threatening, but endearing. “I’d…do anything.” It was weird coming from his mouth, and in this rare instant, his voice held actual emotion.

Simone smiled at Lewis and chuckled, “Maybe he knows you're his daddy? Eh?”

Angela smiled a bit at them both, “Oh~ It’s entirely possible that Raine has been telling him everything. Children are especially gifted at understanding animals.” Raine nodded happily before going and sitting next to her goddess. Angela fixed the way Raine was sitting and scolded her for trying to sit like a bird.

“I did not steal a baby. I lifted him before he had the paperwork on him so other people couldn’t have him.” Angela tried to find her way around it.

“But… Lucian yelled at you about stealing babies and that if you did it again…” Raine saw the look Angela was giving her and shrunk down.

“REGARDLESS, no one will come for him. We just need a proper name for the adoption paperwork and he’s all yours.”

“He’s not ours now?”

“Oh, he is. That’s just how Lucian put it. He wanted to make sure you had a wet nurse too and that he was in a good home.”

“I think one of our house help just had a baby so I can ask her…” Simone found herself a bit jealous but smiled up at Angela. “If not I can find one for him. There should be someone in Benin who would do it.”

“Sounds like a good idea. I brought a cow too for him for the middle of the night. There was a small stable so I shoved her in there.” Angela seemed pleased with herself.

“Of course… Fresh milk… That will work too if I can’t find someone.” Simone smiled back down to their new baby and softly pet his hair. “He needs a name, Lewis… What should we name him?” Simone hadn’t been prepared for this. Normally a couple had nine months to figure it out but here they were with a baby they hadn’t planned for and loved him so very much.

This was all happening so fast that Lewis was having trouble following what was happening. It didn’t help that most of his focus was on the baby. It wasn’t until Simone said that he needed a name that Lewis was able to bring his focus back to the whole conversation. “What…a name?” he asked. Out of the two of us, you’re the more creative one…why ask me?

Still, he closed his eyes, thinking. The resonance between him and Simone sparked, and for a moment the two were almost in full unison. It was there, that Lewis tapped into Simone’s creative side of her mind, and it was there that he found the answer. At once, both he and Simone spoke.

“Everett.”

The almost full resonance broke, and they were Simone and Lewis once more. He opened his eyes, and smiled. It was strange, seeing the psychotic assassin smile, but it was a true one that showed he was really putting effort into this. “Everett Terrowin…that’s the name we choose.”