How It All Began (cuphead OC story)(devilxoc)

Pearls

She was seen off the next morning by her boys and the rest of the crew and she waved at them all as the cab pulled away from the casino. She would miss them all terribly but was so greatful that now, now her baby would be safe and grow up safe away from a dangerous place like the casino.

She arrived at Kettles and he quickly got her settled into a little guest room with two beds in it. It seemed kettle liked to be prepared to have company dispite living so far from everyone and everything.
She set a little black and white picture of the casino family on the bedside table next to the oil burning lamp and smiled at the face the devil was making in the picture. Then she set a picture of wheezy teaching dice a card trick next to it and she chuckled as in the picture dice had messed up the trick and cards were everywhere but the two boys were laughing.
Those pictures would have to do until the baby arrived.

She settled in nicely, taking to the woods well. It reminded her of the days of her youth before she even lived out her first lifetime. It took her back to the days in her little shack with Lucifer, working in the garden in the day and at night sitting together by the fire after dinner. It was peaceful and an excelent place to spend a pregnancy and she and kettle seemed to get along very well.
He was quiet and enjoyed listening to her stories and she enjoyed his. He enjoyed her singing and she enjoyed his harmonica.
The two were comfortable together and very fast friends.

It had been early spring when ruby found she was two months along and by the time her 40 weeks due date rolled around it was already fall.
The leaves on the trees surrounding the cottage turned every vibrant shade of red and yellow and orange she could think of. The apples they used to bake with and make apple cider were ripe and crisp and juicy. And the air outside was nice and cool and refreshing.
She enjoyed nothing more than taking a cup of cider and a quilt onto the front steps and just watching the leaves fall on the freeze as she felt the life inside her kicking away and growing, ready to come to her any day now.

Late one night as the wind blew gently through the woods ruby woke up from a strange dream of a set of blue and a set of red eyes morphing into a pair of black and white dice and rolling to be snake eyes. The dreams shifted to nothing but darkness and screams from what sounded like two little boys and ruby sat up with a cry of surprise and as she did she felt a rush of fluid between her legs and her already wide eyes got wider as she realized what just happened. Her water broke. "K-k-KETTLE!" She yelled and she heard a thud from down the hall and a few seconds later kettle burst in and looked at her in panic as she sat there, staring down at her baby bump and his panic shifted to a smile. "Bout time the little one shows up." He joked and she gave a small nervous smile as he came in and lit a couple lights and began setting up to help her bring this child into the world.

6 hours. 10 minutes. And 37 seconds later and ruby laid back against the pillows holding not one new born toon baby bit two. They were object heads like their father so they were born with pearls for their heads that would morph into their object shape by their fifth birthday. Two little boys. Her little boys. They both whimpered. Wriggling in their blue baby blankets and she cried as she looked down at them, exhausted and sore but never in her life had she felt such a strong connection. Not since dice and even that was a little different as he wasn't a baby she had grown and carried for a full 9 months. This was such a powerful feeling and she never wanted it to go away. She wanted to bring dice here to meet the boys, his baby brothers. Wheezy too! He would love being an uncle to two young children he could teach dirty tricks to! She even wished she could bring Lucifer. He would make a great father to them if he could get over the fact he wasn't blood related to them.

Kettle cleared his throat and brought her from her thoughts and she looked up to see he had a camera ready and she smiled, even as she looked awful, and tears fell down her cheeks she knew this was a moment to keep and treasure forever.
She decided that since she wasn't sure what their objects would be as she had no idea of Ts heritage she would give them temporary names and let kettle name them as their objects formed.
The boy with the brightest blue eyes she had ever seen she named Atan.
And the boy with eyes as red as hers she named Luci. She thought it appropriate as she wanted Lucifer to one day be a father figure for them anyway. They would join her at the casino one day and she prayed they could be a family.
She spent the next couple months adjusting to motherhood, waking up in the middle of the night again and again. Spit up. Diapers. The whole shebang. But there wasn't a moment of it she wanted to miss. She took as many pictures as she could and put them all in a scrap book to take home with her so she would have a peice of her son's with her while she was away.
One day as she sat near the fire with the boys on the living room, playing peekaboo when kettle cleared his throat from behind her and held up a necklace. It was so simple. A brown hand polished stone on a hand woven string. "Put this on and hold the boys. I wanna take a picture." He said and she did as she was told. He took the picture and when he showed it to her.. Her head was cut off in the picture so only the boys in her arms and the necklace hanging between them could be seen. "This will be for them. So that when the time comes they'll know it's you because you'll have the necklace that their mother wore in their picture of her." Kettle explained and she beamed brightly, hugging her friend tightly.
"Thank you kettle. For everything."
It wasn't just kettle she was greatful to either. For the first time in centuries she was greatful to God for her blessings.