It was a cloudless night with the moon high in the sky when Lewis finally returned to the island. It had been three weeks since he had departed in the guise of a woman named Lucile, and as it turned out, the whole mission was a clusterfuck. In the end, though, Lewis had a confirmed kill, and with the silver in hand, he finally made his way home.

Unfortunately, the magic ring that Raile gave him was not a viable option for the infiltration, and Lewis had to take the slow way back home, which led to his midnight stroll on the island. In the time he had been gone, Simone had done a lot of work on the island, and it showed in its pristine beauty. In the silence of the night, though, it was almost ethereal, and for a moment Lewis wondered if he had someone stepped into another world.

There was a sudden crying, one that caused even the hardened Lewis to shiver. He drew a dagger, but realized that the cries were not of some monster or creature, but that of a baby. He remembered what Everett sounded like during his less than happy moments, and wondered if somehow, some way that he escaped the house. But Simone would never have let that happened…and their resonance was still strong enough that he could verify she was safe.

What could it be? He followed the sound, and soon realized that he was headed towards that strange tree…what was it that Leilah had said? A dryad? Surely enough, at the base of the tree was a wailing baby girl, so small and tiny. At once, Lewis swept her up, wrapping her in his cloak to keep her warm.

“There there,” he said, slowly cradling her and trying to hush her. “It’s okay…shhh…let’s get you warm…”

It took some time, but as Lewis finally entered the castle doors to the main hall, the baby girl finally settled down, content for the moment at being held and warm. Lewis was not surprised when no one greeted him. It was the dead of night, and his resonance was low enough that Simone couldn’t have possibly known he was coming home. Still, now that they were close enough, it was possible she may be able to feel him soon, and come down.

“Let’s take care of you first,” he said, looking down at the baby. “But…what the hell does a baby dryad…thing even eat?” He frowned. Maybe he did need Simone.

Simone…love. Wake up…I have a surprise… He wondered if surprise was the right word. Well…you’ll see. I need help, though…

Those few weeks were the worst in her life. She had a temper issue with some things and she tried her best to keep it under wraps. It was more like an itch she couldn’t scratch. Her heart had a pang of jealousy whenever she saw a couple in town. She missed Lewis and it was much more than on an emotional level. He was a part of her. She just wanted him home. They couldn’t communicate thanks to the nature of the job.

The past few nights she had been taking Everett with her. He was keeping her calm and it was keeping her tears away. She never took it out on the kids and she was the very best mother she could be. It was strangers she was afraid of interacting with.

The Wisteria tunnel was finally done and she had watched Mira and Fiori play under it. They loved it and Everett liked looking at them. It was the only thing she had but it felt more like someone ripped out a part of her heart. She could put it in so many different ways, there was no way she could live without Lewis. Angela had told her that was the case but she didn’t think she had meant emotionally too.

His words called to her and stirred away. Looking at Everett she picked him up and almost wanted to go downstairs with him but the babe was fast asleep. She put him in his crib and made her way downstairs. She had even forgotten her robe but his words. They were… Lewis was home!

After the realization kicked in she began to run and it caused a few of the house help to open their doors as she ran down the stairs and almost into Lewis. She had barely enough time to stop as she looked at what or who he was holding.

“…Is that another baby?” She was in shock, so much so that she couldn’t even convey how much she had missed him and loved him. Though her half of the resonance was practically bursting at the seams with love and want.

As the resonance sparked back in its entirety, Lewis felt a sudden, overwhelming sense of warmth. He was home, and he had been missed. When Simone came running, he had to resist the urge to hold her and tell her how much he had missed her. At least the resonance was screaming it, but as Lewis was discovering, there were sometimes more important things than declarations of love to each other.

Lewis carefully handed the baby over to Simone, and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Yes. I found it underneath that…tree. The dryad thing.” He looked around, noticing that some of the house help had come to see what all the commotion was. A few of them greeted Lewis, and welcomed him home, while others were more interested in the small bundle that he had passed to his loving wife.

“I…uh…I’m not sure what they eat. Did Leilah give you anything? I can go get it…” He was more than willing to help, and was ready to jump on the task despite his exhaustion from the job and his trip home. It was evident, though, to most of the help and even Simone that he was exhausted, but they all knew better than to try and tell him off for it. “Just say the word.”

Now that the resonance was fully linked between them she could feel him too. It made her smile and kissed his cheek back as she took the baby from him. “This doesn’t make any sense,” Simone twisted her face a bit in a frown. “Leilah checked up on it and she said that it would become another tree… This isn’t a tree.” It was a sweet baby girl.

Simone was bouncing the little girl and thought about it. “Get the wet nurse please,” she instructed the house help. “We’ll try that. It’s all we can do until we can get a hold of Leilah. She was outside all by herself… I wonder how long.” It made Simone sad as she bounced her. “You look so funny in an assassin’s cloak,” there was a snort from her as she remembered Lewis with the younger Simone. “So tiny~”

Once the wet nurse was brought down Simone passed off the fussing baby girl. They could only wait and see if it worked. The girl was hungry but this did give Simone time. Her eyes landed on Lewis and her heartbeat out of her chest.

“Lady Simone,” the butler called for her, and Simone broke her attention as he helped her into her robe.

“Thank you, I forgot about it when I heard Lewis.” She wrapped herself up before flinging herself onto her husband. “I missed you so, so much!” She nuzzled her nose against his nose and kissed him soundly. “And I love you. And I hated you being gone and not being able to talk to me. It was literally hell.”

The fact that the baby was being fed was a load off of Lewis’ mind, and finally he was able to give Simone the attention she deserved. When the moment of opportunity was finally available, she flung herself into his arms. She nuzzled and kissed him, and he returned her affection in kind with his own kisses, holding her tightly.

“I missed you too,” he said with a genuine smile, his hazel eyes locked with her grey eyes. “I love you, and…believe me, this three weeks was…” He paused. “Honestly, it’s too much to go in to right now. I’ll tell you later…but it was not anything like I expected. Your uh….training came in handy though.” That last part was almost deadpan, and though he meant it, it was almost like he was reliving some moments from the mission.

“Anyway,” Lewis said, trying to change the subject. “We’ll just have to keep working on training the resonance up. I’m sure Lady Angela would know how to get it stronger…perhaps that requires a visit…” He looked up, staring off into the distance for a moment. “She did steal a baby though…” He muttered under his breath about possibly not trusting her, but once again turned his attention to Simone. He still hadn’t let go of her, as if he couldn’t get enough of her presence.

“Maybe we should take the baby to our room for the night and keep a watch on her. First thing in the morning we can contact Leilah…” It was obvious to Simone that Lewis was hitting a limit with being awake, but he seemed to be trying to push it for her sake. “We can take turns…and…” He yawned. “Make sure she’s good for the night…”

It felt like heaven being in his arms again and that sounded really corny when the thought crossed her mind. She couldn’t help it though as she pushed her head up under his for a few moments. “Don’t think about it… We can talk about it at a later time. All that matters right now is that you are home with me and the kids… and that we apparently have another baby.”

Simone nodded, “Yes, I think that would be a wise decision on our part. If you are going to take long term jobs like that one I want to know where you are, how you are, how much you love me,” she had a smile as she poked him in the chest. “And furthermore, just hearing your voice makes me feel so much better. I almost twisted someone’s head off because of you.” She hadn’t stopped poking his chest. “So yes, we will be training the resonance, we will go see Lady Angela, and I won’t let her steal another baby.”

That was a good idea… Simone took the baby back in her arms and thanked everyone, “You can all go back to bed. We’ll see you in the morning. As for you,” Simone’s eyes locked with him. “Absolutely not. You are to go upstairs, change at once, and sleep. I can handle the baby. Go. Now.” She started to lightly kick at his ankles. “Go. Let’s go. Up the stairs.”

She got his nightclothes out and helped him back before swaddling the newborn into Everett’s baby blanket. She put her in the middle of the bed and took off her robe as she climbed in. “Now, sleep.” She pulled the blankets up over Lewis. “No fighting me.” She watched over them both but at some point, she fell asleep with the newborn on her. Just like the old days of when Cecilia had been little.

Arguing against Simone was pointless, so when she made her demands of Lewis, he simply nodded, obviously too tired to do anything else. Finally, she shooed him off to bed, and the moment he hit the sheets, he was out. Having not slept properly for almost three weeks, this was considered heaven, and he had a dreamless, restful night.

As the early morning sun shone into the window, Lewis grumbled, slowly waking up. He sat up and yawned, noting that Simone never came back to bed. He looked around, finding her dozing upright with the sleeping baby in her arms. It was cute to behold, and Lewis almost wanted to leave her so she could get some rest, but they had quite a bit to do that morning, so he carefully took the baby, and woke Simone up.

“Time to wake up,” he said as he gently placed his hand on her shoulder. “You fell asleep here…I wanted to let you sleep, but…” Well, she knew. “Let’s take care of the kids and we can go ahead and take a trip to Jayou. I’m sure Leilah and the girls will be happy if we bring along everyone.” That was, assuming Mira wanted to come. That girl was something else, but Lewis didn’t mind. As long as she was safe, she was free to do whatever she liked.

If anything Simone was an expert at finding a way to calm a baby down. She had birthed many of them and while she never got too far she had always treasured the small moments with them. Lewis had gotten pretty good at taking sleeping babies from her arms too since it didn’t startle her awake like it had in the beginning. A yawn left her lips as she rubbed her eyes, “Morning already? Little dear struggled at first to sleep.”

In Lewis’s arms, the little girl peeked her eyes open and looked at him with pinkish-purple eyes. She had pretty eyelashes for a babe as well. Simone stretched in the chair and used Lewis to help herself up. “I’m sure Leilah would be excited if we brought Everett with a dowry,” she chuckled a bit.

First thing Simone did after getting her robe was head right into Everett’s room. The little boy was grunting as soon as he heard the door open, “Oh, you heard me did you? Already inherited your daddy’s talents?” The mother came over and lifted the baby out of his crib. She rubbed her nose to his and Everett squealed at her as she cuddled him close. “Next thing we know you are going to be throwing daggers at people who surprise you~”

She brought him out to see Lewis who had gotten Fiori and Mira up for breakfast. They got everyone fed and Everett wanted to cling to Simone after. He was content cuddling into her and grumbled towards anyone who came to take him. “We are just in a mood today little monster,” she tickled his belly and he giggled up at her. After a few moments, she looked up at Lewis, "How about Alshaya?" She was little at the little girl in his arms. "It means a family of love. She will certainly be loved."

Alshaya was fussing about in Lewis’ hands, but otherwise she seemed okay. The assassin wasn’t quite sure how to handle her just yet, but as it had been with Everett, he was quick to realize that for the most part, she was almost the same as dealing with Everett when he was first born. After a rather uneventful time of fussing about, she tuckered herself out and dozed off in his arms.

“Well…she’s at least got that down,” Lewis said with a smirk. He looked up to Simone, who was playing with Everett. He seemed to be in some kind of mood. “I wonder if he knows he has a sister now.” He looked down to the sleeping Alshaya, and smiled. “Let’s get you to Jayou then.”

A portal was opened, and the family stepped through to the alleyway next to Raile’s shop. They all filed into the shop, and were greeted by a tired Raile. There was a quick exchange of pleasantries, and Raile went back to find Leilah.

“Looks like he isn’t sleeping well. I wonder what’s happening.” Lewis asked. “I wonder if his twins are giving him trouble.”

There was a loud bang up from above, followed by Rhenakos flying down the stairs with a red haired baby girl in his arms. In his arms, though, was a strong statement. He was actually holding her upside down, keeping her at an arms length.

“The little bugger is already teethy. Don’t ask me how the hell she has such bite strength, but she nearly took my finger off…” Izzy was hanging with a smile on her face, and for some reason that was almost unnerving to even Lewis. “I swear…she’s gonna be the death of me…”

Simone smiled towards Lewis and chuckled, “He recognizes Fiori so I bet he knows that Alshaya is here.”

After they arrived in Jayou Simone bounced Everett on her hip and he appeared happy with this. “Yeah, he looks tired.”

Simone thought their child problems were top of the line but seeing Izzy with Rhenakos was something else, “She is going to be a hell-raiser…” Simone hadn’t forgotten the lesson with Rhenakos but she pushed it out of her mind as she greeted Izzy. “Maybe she is karma for you and Os?”

Leilah came down with both twins on her hips. They were happy but she looked tired too, “Izzy screams, they scream… They scream, Izzy screams. Babies~” Leilah stopped when she realized that Lewis was holding another baby. “You got another baby?”

“Long story… Our tree gave birth and we just wanna make sure she is healthy,” Simone let Everett get close to Nyssa and Piper. The girls giggled and he squealed back at them. It looked like they were flirting.

”Lewis make it stop.”

“I’m glad they get along at least~” Leilah handed one of the girls off to Raile. “What’s her name?”