"Sammy, sweet, get off those creepy things and come to your favourite uncle-"
"Favourite uncle?" Caspian snorted at Peter at the same time that Jill hissed in defence of her beloved cats, "Watch who you're calling creepy things, you twat."
"Why are pets even at the dinner table?" Susan asked, rolling her eyes at the five animals surrounding her niece. "More importantly, why are they licking the future High Queen of England? Didn't she just have her bath?" This last question was aimed at her mother, who shrugged.
"Ed was with her in the evening, I was talking with Adamson about- no, Samara shona, you're not to lick the table! That's for the dogs to do!"
"Remind me why we didn't give Rheia's puppies away?" Edmund asked, bending down and scooping his child away from the animals, who whined- Missy even scratched his leg.
"Because I almost cried when you suggested it."
Her husband blanched at the memory- it had NOT been one of his best.
"Right.""I'll take them outside, I suppose." Lucy looked up from her conversation with Lildana, who knew in a competition between her betrothed's niece and herself, she had no chance. "Oh- no, Samara's crying, it's okay, baby, I won't take them away-"
"She's not a baby anymore, cupcake, she's almost 3- what, what?" Jill looked surprised as Sanya began shaking her head, subtly but hurriedly.
"My daughter IS still a baby." And would remain so till he died, but that part sounded slightly too overprotective-father, so the brunet King left it out.
Sanya patted her husband’s arm in a consoling gesture, doing her best not to laugh at him, "Yes, she is, love, don't worry."
Edmund smiled gratefully at his wife, before turning to his sister, "But yes, Lu, take the pets out, Sam'll forget about them soon."
"Unca Pe'er." His daughter wriggled in his grasp, her dark curls bouncing. "Unca Pe'er!!"
"She likes cats AND Peter." Edmund reluctantly gave his daughter to an overjoyed Peter, before complaining to his wife. "Are you sure she's mine?"
"No, she's Peter and I's child. We rekindled our affair for a while." Sanya deadpanned, making Lucy chuckle on her way out with Missy, Kira, Rheia, Poseidon and Hestia while Lildana looked a little alarmed.
"She's joking, Dana, she hasn't realised she isn't funny." Peter shot, momentarily losing focus on his niece, who was tugging at his blond hair and ignoring the thoughts of a possible redhead child who could have been in her place had- had some things not happened.
But he was happy again. Happier than he had ever thought he would be again, after Lilith's death.
"I AM funny- hilarious, in fact, your boyfriend just has no sense of humour." The Queen looked at the Archduchess, who was smiling widely now.
"I'm quite aware of the fact, and it saddens me deeply. I- why are you two shouting?" The blonde looked beside her, her attention snatched by Susan and Jill.
"We'll marry whenever we want!"
"It's been almost 2 years since you've been engaged- at LEAST set a date. Or a year!"
"Susie, not everyone wishes to get married as soon as they get engaged-" Her husband spoke placatingly.
Susan had had some more control on her stress so she didn't blow up at him. "Don't call me that, and I know, I just- Peter!"
Her brother looked up from the toddler in his arms, both their eyes identical in their innocence. "Yes, Su?"
"Yes, Aun' Su?"
"She's not supposed to have chocolate before supper."
Sanya and Edmund, eyes not as sharp as the eldest Queen's, immediately started berating him.
"She gets sick-"
"She gets hyper-"
"She won't be able to eat-"
"Or sleep-"
"We need our sleep, we didn't sleep for a whole year when she was born-"
"And it'll be the same soon enough now!"
The entire table turned to look at Sanya, whose face embodied 'I should not have said that. I should NOT have said that.'
"Ex-excuse me?" Edmund, recovering from his heart attack, asked hoarsely. "Wait- you're- are you-"
"Yep." She nodded at him before grinning at the table sheepishly. "Samara's going to have a little sibling in seven and a half months' time. The doctor just told me today."
"And a cousin in six!" Caspian blurted out too, his wife facepalming.
"We were supposed to keep it secret!" She shook her head at him before turning to look at her whole family, Lucy having slipped back in beside Jill moments earlier. "Yes, Caspian and I are expecting a child too, I'm three months along."
"I knew you were getting fa-" Peter almost said it. He almost said it in front of his hormonal and always stressed out sister and almost risked certain death. "Fascinatingly glowy!"
"Nice save." Jill snorted and he scowled at her. He should've taken his dinner in his room with Samara and Lildana, he just knew it.
Susan, thankfully, either didn't realise or more likely, didn't want to commit murder in front of a toddler. "Thank you, Peter."
"Anyone else have any pregnancies to announce? Lildana?"
"No!" The two blondes said at the same time, looking at each other in panic. "Definitely not."
Almost to make up for his panic, Peter mouthed 'I love you' to her, which made Lildana's heart soar. It had taken him so long to be able to say it to her, and she had been incredibly patient and kind, and she steadied him. That was what he had needed, after everything, and he hoped he knew how much he was grateful for her.
Edmund then looked at his younger sister and her fiancée.
"Artificial insemination, you two?"
"Go get hit by a bus. Or train." The youngest blonde told him sweetly and his wife had to cover her mouth as she remembered a similar request she had made to him five years ago.
"Neither of us are pregnant. And the only children we have are cats." Lucy assured him.
"Does planning on buying another cat count as pregnant too?"
"Please DON'T." The brunet shook his head at Jill. "If you buy a cat, Sanya'll want another dog- it's weird, the competition you have with each other."
"I love all animals, but dogs are superior to everything and as many must be loved and given a home as possible." Sanya declared at once.
Peter regretted ever getting her Rheia.
"Can we eat?" Caspian asked then, before Jill could retort. "Honestly, we should have the dining room divided in four, so we can all eat in peace."
"Eating IS something which should be done in tranquillity." Sanya nodded as she got up from her seat and took her daughter from Peter, smacking his hands away as he attempted to continue holding her. "And Sam does need her food on time." She added, placing her toddler in the highchair between Ed and she.
"Shall we call for the architect then?" Susan asked, looking around the room. "It'll be easy sectioning this hall off, it's enormous. Or we could even use the rooms next to it..."
"Absolutely not." Edmund spoke firmly, tying a bib onto his daughter. "Mealtimes are meant to be shared with family."
YOU ARE READING
The Cair Royals
Fanfic'Whence seated 4 Kings and Queens upon the Thrones of Cair, May an Unlawful Relationship Arise. May Power be Fought for, May Deceit Run Deep. When Lives be Threatened and Taken, May Hope We Keep. When Trust is Weakened and the Heart Feels Pained, Ma...