The Elementalist Diaries

Part II Entry IV Morning, Mate

Seth's POV

"Hey, beautiful," I whispered in her ear as she stirred, waking up. It was around eight AM, and I had let myself in using the spare key.

"Ugh, I'm up, I'm up," she moaned, sitting up stiffly. "I think I was thrown into eight different trees last night," she said, rolling her shoulders and wincing. I sat down behind her and slid my hands rhythmically over her back. "That feels nice," she whispered, closing her eyes for a minute. Then she pulled off the sheets and got up, walking out of the room. I followed, wrapping an arm around her waist as she stopped in front of the open-doored nursery.

"Are we gonna wake them up, or not?" I asked with a smile, nuzzling her neck.

"Mommy! Nate is going to shiwft!" Bella yelled. Sarah shushed her and I heard the sound that meant Nate was awake: tearing clothes.

"We don't have to," she sighed, hiding a smile. Stepping into the room, we saw that only Lilly was still asleep. "Good morning, babies, quiet down! Lilly's still sleeping," she said, slipping out of my arms. She lifted the wolf cub out of the crib and put him on the floor. "Seth, could you let him outside and watch him? He might attack a flock of geese or something." She asked, picking up Sarah and putting her on the ground. I grinned, grabbed the diaper bag, and followed my son's wolf to the back door, opening it and freeing him from the claustrophobia of the house.

We played fetch and tug of war, playing rough and tumbling around until his energy wore down and he shifted from wolf to boy. I quickly put his diaper and clothes on him, picking him up and bringing him back inside.

"Bella, unless you eat your breakfast, I'm leaving you with Grandpa while I go pick out new horses," Ashlynne told our daughter sternly. I sat Nate in his highchair, walking over and wrapping my arms around her.

"How did you do this by yourself for so long?" I asked her quietly.

"Because I love them more than life," she replied simply, flipping pancakes out of a pan and onto a plate that already had a considerable amount on it. "Here. I know you eat more than we do," she smiled and handed it to me.

"Oh, you didn't have to..." She cut me off with a kiss.

"Shut up and eat your breakfast," she laughed, picking up Nate's and her own plate and carrying it to the table. Sarah and Bella were already using their color coded kiddie dishes, cutting their pancakes with their forks before putting the pieces in their mouths. Nate, however, was another story altogether.

"Jacob Nathaniel Black-Clearwater, take that pancake out of your mouth and cut it," Ashlynne said firmly, pouring syrup over her pancakes. Nate put his food down and cut it into pieces grudgingly.

"Where's Lilly?" I asked my mate as we started to eat. "Is she still sleeping?"

"Oh, yeah. She has nightmares so I had to bring her into my room last night and then I put her back in the crib after a while," Ashlynne answered indifferently. My eyebrows rose.

"Nightmares? Does it happen alot? She was fine before you came home and I left," I said, concerned for my youngest daughter. This was one of the things I would've known had I been a part of their lives, I thought guiltily.

"Only since last month, it hasn't been that long. But when I ask her what they're about, she can't remember," Ashlynne told me, picking up Sarah and Bella's now-empty plates and putting them in the sink. She grabbed a washcloth, wiped the syrup off of Bella's face, and handed it to Sarah, who simply wiped her hands.

"Up, Daddy! Up!" I was caught off-guard that Bella called me Daddy, but after a few seconds I grinned. I picked her up and swung her around gently as she giggled uncontrollably. Ashlynne smiled and released Sarah from her high-chair.

"Mommy, awre we going to get mowre howrsies?" Nate asked, finishing his pancakes. His face was completely covered in syrup, so Ashlynne took the washcloth and scrubbed him down as I collapsed on the couch with Bella in my lap. Sarah sat calmly, on a chair far away from me.

"Yeah, we are. And I think it's time to get you four your own Shetland ponies, what do you think?" Ashlynne asked, watching for Bella's reaction.

"Reawwy?! A PONY?! You'w teach me how to RIDE?!" Bella yelled, excited, jumping in my lap like a kangaroo.

"Yeah, baby, I'm gonna teach you how to ride," my mate laughed. This was the way it should have been all along.