Simone was out in town doing a bit of light shopping. It was one of the few rare times that she had ‘alone’ time. Following behind her was a house helper that Lewis had asked to go with Simone. It was a pain but ever since the incident those many years ago now he wasn’t comfortable with her being by herself.

“And some candy for Fiori,” Simone put it all into her shopping bags which were a ton by now as she looked at the poor man who was helping her. “We’re almost done I swear.”

“No problem Missus really. You look less stressed than you have in a while.”

She smiled a bit and continued on for a good few steps before someone took her wrist. “Excuse me, Miss?”

“Unhand the Missus!”

Simone waved her hand a bit and calmed down the house help. He was really taking Lewis’s words to heart. She took her wrist with a yank and tilted her head, “Can I help you?”

“I was just wondering if a lovely lady like yourself would go on a date with me?” It was okay looking but he was obviously just a very plain nobleman. Also, he looked younger than Lewis which… was saying something.

“I decline.” Simone didn’t wait for him as she saw his shocked face. “Come on Gerald.” The boat ride home was easy enough and she helped poor Gerald with all the bags. “I’m home you little monsters,” Simone swooped down as she picked both Alshaya and Everett up. Both of them were a ball of laughter as she kissed them.

“Ma where go?!” Everett yelled at her. He was getting so big at three now. Alshaya was quietly nodding and hugged her.

“I went to the storeeee to go shoppingg,” she kissed them both. Alshaya was a year younger than Everett but she was so much smaller than he was.

“DA!” Alshaya looked over to Lewis and yelled for him.

“OHHH so you are only okay with me for like five seconds before you need Daddy I see,” she gave over and offered Alshaya to Lewis. “Were they good for you?”

The time that Simone was away was…different to say the least. Lewis had a hold on taking care of Everett and Alshaya for the most part, but as they got older and more curious with the world, they got harder and harder to keep up with. Alshaya was less of a problem than Everett, as the little boy found himself wandering the halls of the castle. For a toddler, he was fast…faster than even Lewis could believe.

“There you are,” Lewis said as he swooped in and picked up a giggling Everett. “Where do you think you’re going, you little monster?” he said with a smile, putting his nose to Everett’s.

The silver hair child giggled, “Ma! Where Ma?” He strained against Lewis and tried to look around.

The assassin smiled, and merely held Everett close, walking back down the hall to his and Simone’ room where Alshaya was playing on the bed. “Momma went to town to have some ‘me time’. Even she needs a break from you little deviants…” He placed Everett on the bed with Alshaya, and smiled as the two started to play.

Lewis came in, and started to tickle the two of them, causing giggling fits that lasted for ages, and while they were distracted, time passed and soon Simone was home. The moment Simone was home, she came in and immediately went to her babies, who were excited to have their mother back, though Alshaya was back in Lewis’ arms in record time.

“Welcome back,” he said as he cradled Alshaya. “Simone had a great trip, didn’t she? All that icky stress is gone…” He bumped his nose to Shaya’s, and looked to his wife. “Isn’t it?’ He hardly had to ask, but it was more for playful banter than anything. The kids loved it.

“You often get offers?” Lewis asked, smirking. “Poor kid didn’t know what to do when you said no…” It was hard not to know what went down. As they were so well connected, it was impossible. “Just think…soon it won’t be you. It’ll be Ezili and Alshaya….” He blanked out for a moment. “And….Izzy….”

Thanks to the resonance she wasn’t really away from the kids so missing them wasn’t a problem. She did miss hugging them but she spent most of the day with them so missing three hours wouldn’t kill her. Only it did. They were her precious babies and she enjoyed all the time with them she could soak up. They were just little hellions sometimes. Not so much Alshaya but every once in a while Everett would egg her on.

“Yes, all gone,” she blew raspberries on Everett’s belly to cause a fit of laughter.

“All the time~” She smirked a bit. “There’s this silver-haired man named Lewis Terrowin,” she chuckled at him. “He makes passes all the time. You should hear him.” She casually flirted with her husband while playing with Everett. “He’s too young for me anyway. He looks younger than you did when you found me.” She looked down at Alshaya in Lewis’s arms. “You can barely handle Ezili and Lucas… how are you going to handle Alshaya?”

There was a chuckle from Simone as she held Everett in her arms. He just wanted to snuggle now that he found her. “Ma! Loves!” He squealed up at her.

“I love you too,” she pet his hair and kissed the top of his head. “Did you have fun running amuck in the castle? Were you looking for me?” Everett nodded to her and hugged himself to her. “I’m always going to come back to you.” She chuckled a bit.

“Izzy has to find someone to put up with her first,” Simone reassured Lewis. “It happened by pure chance for Rhenakos.”

Simone came over and took Alshaya before laying back in Lewis’s arms with both of the kids. Alshaya grumped a bit but she seemed a bit more pleased when she saw Simone’s smile up at her father. “Sorry, kiddo but I need your Da just as much as you do.” Simone chuckled down at the little girl. Alshaya did a light pout before she and Everett started to babble at each other happily.

While the adults were having their time with the toddlers, Rex found himself exploring the island like he usually did. Lucas and Ezili had gone out to the smaller set of docks, and were messing about in the water, or something. He didn’t really care about what kind of saltwater fish they could catch, or what species of rock existed on the island. It was all above his head anyway, and he’d much rather spend his time elsewhere.

And so he found himself climbing the vines on the exterior of the house, trying to get to the roof. It didn’t take him long, although he did almost fall a few different times. But when he got to the top, he could see far off into and off the island. First, he spotted Lucas and Ezili. Lucas had a book open and was reading something aloud, and the girl was just absolutely entranced by whatever he was saying.

Typical.

What was different, though, was at the pier there was a smaller vessel that he didn’t immediately recognize. It had a Benin flag on it, but the person coming off of it couldn’t have been but a few years older than he was, around Lucas’ age.

“Weird,” he said to himself. What was more confusing was that the kid was making a beeline to the house. “Are those….flowers? And chocolate? Oh gods…Ezili has another one…” He frowned. They were always so insistent. He had to punch one of them out cause he threatened Lucas and Ezili. They were weird, but they were family.

“I’ll have to head him off…” The boy started to scramble down the side of the house, and noticed he was at Lewis’ and Simone’s window. With a quick courteous knock, he tumbled in.

“Hey…we got another boy coming up. You wanna answer the door, or should I?”

Lewis was not shocked at Rex’s entrance, but was a little surprised at the tact the boy was showing when it came to fending off potentials for his daughter. “I guess I can handle it…I can talk them down better than you can…”

Rex shrugged, “Never said anything about talkin’, but you do you pops.” The teen hadn’t decided on whether or not to call Lewis his father, but every so often he let tiny things like this slip.

Lewis sighed, and looked to Simone, giving her a quick peck on the cheek before he slipped off the bed. “Let’s get this over with…”

Ezili was snuggled up into Lucas and listening to every word he said. She was sitting in his lap and he was looking over her shoulder reading the book. It was easy because she was smaller than he was. This was her safe and happy spot. He didn’t fuss too much when it was just them.

Simone pulled herself from Lewis’s lap with the kids who were napping now. “Really? Again? She has more suitors than I do and she’s only fourteen. Poor Lucas,” she chuckled. “I’ll keep the kids in here so they keep sleeping. They finally tuckered themselves out.” She kissed his cheek back. “Good luck you two.”

Once they were down in the parlor there was a knock at the door. Once Lewis opened it the man appeared nervous. He really wasn’t that much older than Lucas. He cleared his throat and straightened his tie, “Good evening I’m looking for a young lady who came to this island. She didn’t give me a chance to get her to change her mind… Is your sister here?” Clearly, it had to be his sister. "If I could just convince her for a moment of her time. I brought gifts."

Lewis answered the door with Rex behind him, and was immediately met with the suitor. He sighed, readying himself for the inevitable question, but was thrown off when he asked for Lewis’ sister. Rex had a visible look of confusion on his face, and then it dawned on him.

“Oh shit,” Rex said aloud. “Did you ju-”

Lewis held up his hand, and Rex went quiet. “I’m sorry…I think you must be mistaken,” the assassin said with a pleasant, fake voice. “I don’t have a sister. My wife, however, is upstairs with our children. I think you must be mistaken about where this lady you speak of went.” The silence filled the air momentarily.

“Hey, can I punch him if he doesn’t leave?” Rex asked, finally breaking the silence.

There was toddler crying after the man asked for his sister. Most likely because Simone was now laughing her ass off up in their room. “Oh no, shhh. Shhh. Mommy didn’t mean to startle you,” she was laughing in between her words as she pulled them close and kissed them. “Mommy is just laughing at the funny man downstairs.”

The man thought for a moment before he got a disappointed look on his face, “There’s no way. How could she be interested in a person like you… She wouldn’t even look at me. Oh, I know! You obviously paid for her from her family! Such a common silly thing.” He dropped what was in his hands and fiddled around with a sack of coin. “So…?”

At the words that the boy had, Lewis took a moment. A deep inhale. Exhale. Another deep inhale. Exhale. It had been some time since he had been this agitated, and the boy was lucky that Lewis had taken the time to try and curb his more rash actions when it came to Simone. After all, he knew his wife could take care of herself.

At the sound of the coins, though, there was a rush of air past Lewis and Rex found himself decking the other boy. “Just so you know,” Rex said as he cracked his knuckle. “First one is on the house…second one’s gonna cost you what’s in the bag…” The teen was talking big, but there was a look of agitation on his face.

“This guy here? He’s like a father to me. And his wife? The woman you’re trying to pay for, is like a mother to me. So take your filthy noble bullshit of ‘buying’ people, and shove it up your ass.” The red head was heated, and it looked like he was going to go in for another attack, but Lewis put his hand on Rex’s shoulder, and pulled him back.

“Now, now, Rex…” Lewis said with a smirk. He was secretly a little proud of the kid. “We can’t go around beating people.” He gave the noble a glare as he held out his hand. “We’re better than this. We don’t attack defenseless people. Although,” he paused. “I do recall that she already told you no once…” He sighed. “You just have to accept the answer….and if you don’t…”

The eyes of the cold blooded assassin came back, “I must warn you that my family does not take kindly to insults. And I might not always be around to stop Rex here…”

Simone had felt the inhale of air. Lewis had been doing really good lately with handling things to do with her and she was proud of him. She made her way downstairs with Alshaya and Everett who were both fussing and pulling her hair. “Is there a problem love?”

“DA!” Alshaya yelled with a pout and a cry as she rubbed her tired little eyes.

Everett just clung to his mother and Simone sighed a bit. “I just can’t win with you two,” she chuckled a bit more and kissed Lewis on the cheek. “I’m afraid what my boys said is correct. I did say no and I meant it. I’m not into posh nobles and I certainly don’t like men who think they can buy anything they want. You’ll have to find another tree to climb~”

Perhaps she had spoken a bit too soon as Ezili was giggling with Lucas as they approached the house. The nobleman who had been brushing himself off and trying his best to appear better looked towards Ezili now.

His eyes got wide and he sucked in his breath. Ezili looked towards him and gave him a smile before she practically skipped past the man and into the house up to Lewis. “Papa, can we go to the mainland? Lucas said that there was a pastry shop that just opened up and I want to try some? It’s still really early in the day! I’m sure we could be back by nightfall!”

“If not her then WHAT ABOUT YOUR DAUGHTER?!” The man pointed towards Ezili who turned and looked at him.

“What about me?” She pointed towards herself. Her long white curls were bouncing with her head tilt of confusion.

“Marry me!” The sudden outburst made Ezili blush as she looked to Lucas for help first not knowing how to handle yet another one.

Lucas, much like Ezili, had no idea how to handle these kinds of situations. The poor boy still had issues standing up to authority in general, even when he knew he was in the right, and this was no different. A lowly cabin boy and slave shouldn’t talk to a nobleman, let alone tell him off for courting.

“No,” Lewis said with a deadpan look. This was a lot easier than dealing with his infatuation with Simone. Leagues easier. “She can’t be bought, and her heart goes where it wants. And unless you’re blind, it’s clear her heart belongs with Lucas…” It was weird hearing the words come out of his mouth. While he had, to an extent, accepted that it was happening, he still watched them like hawks.

Rex was already cracking his knuckles again. “Hey Lucas…bro…can I beat the shit outta him? Ezili? He bothering you? I can knock him out and we can toss him in the water….it can even be an experiment…we can see if he floats. How many rocks does it take to sink him…you know…the science shit you like…”

“I would suggest you leave,” Lewis said as he crossed his arms. “It seems you are not welcome here…”