Lewis froze up for a second, seeming not to move at all. “Right. We need to go shopping for Everett and get him all sorts of new clothes. Oh, and while we’re at it, I’m sure Janus and Lila need some new sleepwear as well. Those rascals are growing up quite quickly too.” He started to pet Simone again, but this time a little faster, as if he were trying to make her forget something.

“Lewis…” Simone said with a tired tone.

“My precious girl doesn’t need that kind of stuff, not at all!” Lewis stated firmly. “I’ll just gouge the boy’s eyes out.”

The way he avoided Alshaya was making Simone smile a bit as she kissed his chin and hugged him tightly. “You know that this is a part of them all growing up. Alshaya too.”

This was just the same speech he was giving her. Though for Lewis it resulted in him going to the same corner Simone had been in and refusing to budge.

Simone left the residence and went to Elysia. “Xeik… I have an emergency…” She took Xeik’s hand. “It’s Lewis.”

Her eyes were red and puffy from crying but it didn’t compare to the husband she had. He was in the corner muttering to himself holding a few of Alshaya’s baby outfits.

“…Alshaya needs corsets now and Lewis isn’t handling it well. I was just crying over how tall Everett’s gotten and Lewis calmed me down only for me to mention the corsets and… Well… Here we are.” She whispered.

Xeik looked at the pair, and sighed. “You two are something else…” He shook his head and more or less dragged them both out of the corner of the room, and sat them down on the couches in their room. He sat on the opposite side, and looked at the two. Lewis was pouting, and Simone seemed on the verge of tears again just thinking about Everett.

Silva popped in and poured them all tea, as if she somehow knew that the stress of the situation called for it. She even had three cups ready, anticipating the need to Xeik.

“Lewis. Put the damn onesie down, you look absurd.”

The ex-assassin huffed, “I could kill you three different ways with that spoon.”

Xeik rolled his eyes, “And I could paralyze you for the rest of the day. Idle threats, Lewis.”

“Fine…”

“Now, both of you need to get over this whole-”

“We should get another kid,” Simone said suddenly, her eyes lighting up.

“That sounds splendid,” Lewis replied, their eyes locking.

“OKAY, PARALYZE IT IS!” Xeik said as he jumped over the table. It only took a few minutes, and the end result was Lewis and Simone stuck, rigid in their seats. The Divine Mender was slowly sipping on his tea, blowing on it gently to make sure it wasn’t too hot before each delicate sip.

“Now..I had a feeling this was coming up, so I…acquired some help. Leilah and Raile are coming over…probably soon, and Leilah is going to take Everett and Alshaya to her favorite shop to get measured for some clothes. Everett is going to get a full set of new clothes-”

Simone whimpered.

“Sssh. It’s fine, Simone. He’ll be fine. It’s just a part of the process. And Alshaya will get measured for a corset, and be provided with some erm…well…womanly advice.” Xeik was dancing around the subject because he was sure that it was a sore spot for Lewis. “It is about time for her to start-”

Lewis growled.

“Shh. It’s better if we tackle this now and get a handle on it so she doesn’t panic and worry. Leilah is great at these things and can help. All of this, of course, will be funded by Uncle Raile…” He smirked. “I’ve made all of the arrangements. Are we clear?”

Both Lewis and Simone grunted, growled, and fought against the idea.

“Perfect. While they’re out, we can enjoy this nice, relaxing day…right?”

Reunion

Darren had told them about a reunion between all the acolytes and that they could invite whoever they wanted as well. It had been a small idea between Darren and Jack but it seemed like a good idea. Lewis and Simone decided to rent out the entire cabaret from Raile for it.

There were so many faces that Simone remembered from their days at Raith’s temple. It was kind of entertaining how many of them had kept in contact with each other. “Thanks for coming Xeik… Just in case Lewis loses his shit,” Simone said it as a joke.

Compared to the modest Simone that they knew she was wearing one of the many dresses Lewis loved on her. It was a tight black silk dress that was cut out under her bust to just above her navel. It was flowed high to low for the skirt with a sexy slit. It looked fantastic on her and Lewis matched her, though it wasn’t hard.

“Damn Mone,” Rhenakos was there if only to gawk.

“I didn’t remember inviting you,” Simone shrugged and smirked. “Just be on your best behavior.”

“Whatever, I’m just here to look and keep an eye on Os,” He pointed to his wife who slammed a drink in front of him.

Darren waved at Simone and Lewis, “Over here!” The table had a bunch of old acquaintances along with Jack.

“Been a while,” Simone had her chair pulled out by Lewis and she sat by him. “We haven’t all been like this since…”

“Since Lewis got absolutely wasted and yelled how much he loved you,” Jack chuckled.

“He does that sober now,” Simone teased Lewis.

Lewis glared at Jack and took a sip of the wine that had been provided. “I could have sworn that I told you… one word of that night and I’ll kill you.”

“Yeah, but that was-”

“Doesn’t matter how long ago it was,” Lewis replied darkly as he sat forward. “A promise is a promise.” There was a half smirk on Lewis’ face. Simone started to giggle, and leaned back into Lewis.

“It’s mean to tease him like that,” she said as she kissed his cheek.

“You’re right, I should stop joking,” he replied, petting Simone. “Wouldn’t want anyone here to think I’m violent.”

“If you’re not violent, then I’m a genius,” Rhenakos said, downing his whole drink in a single gulp.

“You must be a really big idiot, then…” Jack replied.

“Rhen is a huge idiot,” Simone waved her hand.

“You don’t get so embarrassed by that night anymore do you?” Simone gave him a big pout face. “After all, you should have seen Lewis when I was pregnant.”

All of the acolytes leaned forward and Darren took a huge sigh, “It was a whole ass thing. He almost had the second floor of the castle torn down and rebuilt just so it was even…”

“Yeah, I knocked his ass out for that,” Xeik walked in and sat next to Lewis. “What are we talking about?”

“The one time Lewis was so drunk he declared his love for me and how perfect I was,” Simone twirled her finger.

“But he does that sober,” Xeik made a face. “I fail to see how that is different from how he normally is…”

“Yeah but this was young Lewis,” Darren pointed out.

“Oh yeah… You were a dick,” Xeik said to Lewis.

The other acolytes were amused by this. "Lewis is overprotective as a father?" They asked wanting to know more about the famous assassin.

Xeik sat down, “Oh he’s violently overprotective. The Divine Mdner smirked as Lewis gave him a look. “You should see how he is with his daughters.”

“I’m not that overprotective, Xeik,” Lewis stated flatly.

“So when Llonan proposes, you’ll be fine, right?”

“As soon as I threaten him and his father, yes,” the ex-assassin replied immediately. “I’ll be perfectly fine.”

“And what about Lila?” At this point, Xeik was just poking the bear.

“Myrri is a nice boy…but if he keeps eyeing my daughter…”

“That’s what I thought,” Xeik replied. He took a sip of a drink and smirked. “Massively overprotective of his daughters.

Simone was laughing along with the rest of them, seeming to enjoy the fact that Lewis was being judged on his actions as a father. “Aww, my poor husband…my dearest love…” She seemed to be enjoying this.

Of course, Xeik was an equal opportunity asshole in this situation. “Of course, Nyssa and Piper have their eyes on your boy, Everett…”

Simone had a drink in her hand. She got a blank expression on her face as she moved her hand and dumped the drink all over Xeik’s head. “Whoops, I’m such a klutz.”

That got a laugh out of everyone. “Dear you spilled your drink,” Lewis was even laughing as he raised his hand for Osiria to make another cherry tart.

“So I did,” Simone nodded a bit.

“So Darren works for you now?” One of the other acolytes who used to hang around Jack asked.

“We hired him to help protect our land and our kids. He helps take them back and forth to school… Though we had to give him a raise…”

“Your kids are terrorists,” Darren had that expression on his face as if he survived wars. “I don’t know how many times I had to use the emergency ring to portal to Xeik for Everett… That boy has the biggest mouth I’ve ever heard… and Shaya? I want to know who taught that girl her sass.”

“She came like that,” Simone chuckled. “She decks her brother in the nose and has ever since she figured out she could break his nose. We’ve been trying to break the habit… I think Lewis has started to squirrel away funds to give Xeik for fixing Everett’s nose.”

“But none of their kids compare to the terror that the twins are,” Darren slapped his hands down. “They give you Lewis-like looks and then smile at you before doing shit to you. I swear to god I thought it was Lewis pranking me but NO it was Janus and Lila. They had found their way into my fucking cottage.”

“When was this?” Simone gave a slightly concerned expression.

“They didn’t tell you?” Darren looked at her in horror.

“No… Those little terrorists… You shouldn’t negotiate with them.”

That got a few laughs out of the group, but Lewis and Simone had a dead serious face even after the laughter died down. They weren’t joking about the negotiation tactics.

It didn’t take long for Jack and the others to start wondering more about the kids, and with a quick hop home and back, Lewis and Simone brought a few of the little terrors in for a visit. The obvious choices were Janus, Lila, Everett, Alshaya, and the two new twin boys.

“This here is Damond, and here’s Remy.” Lewis held up his boys, on in each arm. They were getting bigger, and Lewis was starting to wonder how much longer they would enjoy being held like this.

“Nooo,” Xeik said as he looked over. “I can see that look..”

Jack blinked, “What look? His resting bitch face?”

“No…he’s sad his kids are growing…” Darren replied with a smirk. “It’s barely there…but you can tell…”

Janus and Lila both looked around the room, almost bored. “No other kids to play with,” Janus said with a pout. “I should have just taken a nap…”

“Now, now,” Lila replied. “We need to show Daddy support…”

“Right…support,” Janus replied with a half smirk. “Play?”

“Pla-”

“NO,” Lewis and Simone said at the same time.

“How boring,” Lila replied with a pout. “We should have stayed home…”

Janus sighed, “But we’re here to support Momma…”

Simone pulled Janus into her lap and smiled down at him. “Love you~”

“Love you too,” Janus hugged his mother and Simone wrapped her arms around him. He was almost too big and she was dreading the day he would become independent. Lila on the other hand sat up by Lewis and held a very bored expression.

“Do you want me to bring Glynn too?”

“Yes! Play!” Lila clapped and giggled and Janus even smirked a bit.

“If you are good for the next five minutes,” Simone held up her hand. “Any less than that and no Glynn for playtime.”

“Fineee~” Lila gave a deadpan look and some of the acolytes got a kick out of it.

“There’s Lewis,” they commented on Lila’s face and Janus gave a nice death stare. “And there’s Lewis in the other twin.”

“Yeah, they do that.” Simone seemed proud. “Watch this…” She held up her hands. “Remy. Damond.” The boys tilted their heads at their mother and she clapped her hands. They got the biggest smiles on their faces.

They started to clap and squeal as they looked up at Lewis. “DA DA DA DA DA~” They began to chant towards Lewis with squeals of happiness.

Simone smirked a bit. “Their little sister started it and…”

“DA DA DA DA~” Remy screamed as he clapped up at Lewis.

“Well… They seem to like doing it.”