Anam Cara | Ian Kabra

BONUS NO 3

Bonus chapter no3 - Ian's & Elvira's anniversary

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There was crying. Lots of it. So much of it Natalie thought she was going to go insane. The child in her arms hadn't stopped crying for the past half an hour and everything she had tried hadn't worked. She was getting desperate.

It wasn't even her own child. It was her only nephew, her brother's child. He was barely a year and a half old but so far, he was driving her crazy. By all means, little Luke wasn't an easy baby to put up with. He resembled Ian in everything except from his eyes that were the same shade of russet as his mother's, Elvira. Unfortunately, Ian had been a very difficult baby and his only son was clearly following his footsteps.

Natalie had made sure she didn't need to change his diaper thrice in the last half an hour, she had tried feeding him twice, she had tried to play with him, she had even scooped so low so as to take him in her arms and start dancing to the rhythm of a waltz with him in her arms while she somehow managed to sing louder than the little one's cries. Nothing had worked. In the end, she gave up and ended up just holding him and gently attempting to shush him as she rocked him back and forth while she rubbed soothing circles with her palm against his back.

If anyone that knew her had seen her in this last half an hour, they would have never let her forget this incident. Natalie and little children didn't mix. She knew for a fact she didn't want any of her own - not when there was a chance one of them could end up like Luke - and when her relatives and close friends asked, she always replied that at this point, Ian's child was hers too. It was true to an extent, as she had been asked to babysit little Luke a couple of times in that last year and a half when his parents were caught up with work. Tonight, though, was the first time she was watching over him for a different reason.

It was Ian's and Elvira's third year anniversary. Natalie had been the one to insist they enjoyed themselves for one night and went out. She had been the one to drop the idea of them having a fancy dinner at a restaurant and she had been more than excited for her brother and her best friend when it was announced they had reservations at a restaurant about half an hour away. She hadn't minded the idea of watching over Luke when she had done it so many times before. There were even times she actually thought she and the little guy were getting along rather well.

Tonight wasn't one of those times.

"Luke, sweetheart, come on," she spoke softly and her gaze moved to the ceiling as if she were asking for a divine being to step in and save her from this torture she had subjected herself into. "Stop crying for aunty, sweetheart, what do you want?"

There was no answer to her questions and for a moment as the crying continued, Natalie contemplated letting go of him just so she could move to the nearest wall and bang her head against it. She soon stopped entertaining the thought when she reminded herself who she was.

She was Natalie Kabra. Sister of Ian Kabra, best friend of Elvira Stewart, leaders of the Lucian branch. She was one of the most efficient and feared agents on the world, she had been to countless missions, faced death more times than she would have been willing to count. She had never once cowered in the face of hardship. She wasn't going to let a baby defeat her.

"Luke, sweetheart, it's going to be alright," she cooed softly and for a moment, she thought the little guy stopped crying. He blinked over at her with tear-filled eyes and at the silence, she allowed a sweet smile to form on her lips. "It's fine, sweetheart. Mummy and daddy are going to be back soon."

For a moment, the silence stretched on. And then Luke opened his little mouth and let out the most devastating yet scream of the night. She felt like sobbing as she looked at his small form in an attempt to realise where all this noise was coming from. She attempted to shush him again. It didn't work.