Barbatos's heart

Trials Part 1: Disagreement

"W-what!?" Barbatos bleated, making Wendy jump a little. She put her hands up in her father's mouth and looked at him funny, making Elaina laugh. "Let's have another baby..." Elaina repeated slower and quieter. "I-I don't know Elaina... I love you and I love Wendy but d-don't you think maybe it's t-to s-soon?" He questioned. "Oh, I see we're back to stuttering, like when we first started dating." She rolled her eyes. "H-hey, I was just thrown off is all!" Barbatos countered. "Hmph well fine, I think you've made your feelings pretty clear!" She scoffed and walked off to the bathroom.

Barbatos scooped up Wendy and put her in the pack-n-play before we went to knock on the bathroom door. "Elaina... Come on. I was caught off guard. It was such a random declaration. I am sorry..." He tried to sound more confident but she was right, his feelings were clear. He didn't want to have another child, not at the moment anyway. He was content with what he had. He was lucky to even have them in his life. Another child would be nice, but he wanted to cherish this time with his wife and their little angel. He felt like bringing in another child while Wendy was still at such a young age would just offset their happy family life. "Please come out Elaina..." He pleaded. She gave him no answer, but he swear he heard the sound of her crying on the other side of the door, and then the sound of running water. They would have to talk about this later.

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Wendy was already changed and asleep in her crib when Elaina emerged from the bathroom. She took a very long, hot bath to try to calm herself down after the whole baby thing. She felt bad for ending Wendy's birthday on such a bad note, especially since she had just said her first word, but Barbatos not wanting another child? She never expected it. She thought he would be on board. At first, it was awkward for him with Wendy, but now there they were a year later, and he was such a fantastic father.

She walked over to Wendy's crib and smiled at her little princess. "You'd like a little brother or sister, wouldn't you?" She whispered so she didn't wake her up. She sighed deeply, trying not to tear up again. Wendy was getting older and even though she was just a year old, time seemed to fly by so fast.

An arm snaked around her waist as Barbatos pulled her back up against his chest. "I didn't mean to upset you, Elaina. I love you." He whispered. He sounded sad and tired. She had been soaking for a while and it was well past midnight but he wanted to be there for his wife when she was upset, especially when he was the cause of it. She didn't say anything. She just continued to stare at Wendy, while Barbatos slowly swayed them from side to side. "I'm tired..." She muttered. She broke away from his hold and sulked over to the bed and laid down on the opposite side. Barbatos frowned and reluctantly joined her, but in his usual spot. She didn't want to be bothered now and he knew to give her the space she needed.

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The next day Barbatos woke up early for his tasks. He looked down toward where Elaina had slept to notice she was already gone. It was very unlike her to be awake before him, actually, it was very unlike her to be awake before 10...

He walked over to the crib to notice that Wendy was also gone. He began to panic. He went to go grab his trousers and that's when he saw the little light shining in the greenhouse from the window. He sighed in relief and took out his D.D.D. it rang and rang. He was about to give up when the tone stopped... "Hello..." Elaina mumbled tiredly. "Are you alright, my love?" Barbatos asked. "I'm fine. Wendy was being fussy this morning so I took her out." She explained. "Want me to take her?" "No. I'm fine. You go do your tasks....bye." She hung up. Barbatos sighed as he set his phone back in his pocket. She was down and it was all over something so trivial, at least it was in his opinion. He wasn't saying "no", he was just saying not yet, but he was wrong.

He sulked down into the kitchen to make breakfast for Diavolo and Aurelia, who had stayed over. He was surprised to see Aurelia in the kitchen already cooking. "Hi, Barbatos!!" She waved. She seemed rather awake and chipper for it being 6 AM. "Oh.... hi Aurelia." She seemed to pick up on his gloominess. "What's wrong?" She asked. "Oh... Elaina is mad at me because I told her I wanted to hold off on having another child." "Uh-oh...." Aurelia sighed. "What? Was I wrong?" Barbatos questioned. "Well, in a way, yes. Why don't you want another baby? Seems like something you would want." She said. "Does it?" "Yes." She chuckled. "You're a great father. You love Wendy more than anything. I would think you'd want another little bundle of joy." She explained.

Barbatos helped Aurelia finish breakfast as they talked about his feelings for another child. Aurelia understood how Elaina felt and tried to explain it to him. She and Elaina had this conversation a few days ago. She knew that Elaina missed the feeling of carrying a child and that it was common to feel that way. Aurelia also explained that Elaina came from a big family so she probably wanted one as well. Barbatos went pale when she mentioned that fact. He had never thought about it and he wasn't sure if he could handle 12 children as Michael could. He needed to talk to Elaina as soon as possible. He grabbed some scones he had made fresh, and some oatmeal for Wendy and headed out to the greenhouse.

Elaina sat in the greenhouse drawing while Wendy practiced standing on her own. She looked tired and forlorn but she still kept a smile on her face for the sake of Wendy and her milestones. Trying to stand, repeating the word "Dada" over and over while bouncing up and down on whatever she could hold herself up on.

"Elaina..." Barbatos sweet-talked, carrying a tray as softly kicked the door closed behind him. "Dada!" Wendy squealed as he entered the building. "Hello, little one!" He smiled as he set the tray down on a nearby table. "What do you have there?" Elaina asked, trying to hide her curiosity. "Your favorite, Cranberry Orange scones, and some warm ginger tea."

She seemed to perk up a bit, but she tried to hide it. She was stubborn and she knew what Barbatos was trying to do. He was trying to smooth things over and make her forget about being mad, but she was mad and it wouldn't work this time. "Hmmph" she pouted as he brought her over a plate. "Elaina, come now... I worked hard on these. They are still nice and warm. Take a bite." He pleaded. She did as he said, but not because she had to because she wanted to!

"We need to talk," Barbatos spoke up. Elaina stopped mid-chew. "I talked to Aurelia. She said something about you possibly wanting a big family... I don't know if I ca-" "Whoa, Whoa Whoa! Wait a minute! Barbatos... I don't want a big family." Elaina interrupted. "Y-you don't?" He squeaked. "Goodness no!" "B-B-but I thought that since you had a big family-" "Barbatos, I have so many siblings, I can't even keep them straight. Not only that but there was so much competition between us. I don't want to go through that. I just want 2 or maybe 4 children max. That isn't a big family in my opinion." She stated. "Oh...." Barbatos whispered.

"Elaina, I want that too, but can't you listen to my side for one second?" Elaina went back to pouting, not liking where the conversation was going. "I realized that yes, I want more children, but I feel like it will be rather stressful for the both of us to have another one so soon. Wendy is just starting to walk and talk. Soon she will take up a lot of time and we will have our hands full, don't you think?" "No." Elaina huffed. "You are so stubborn!" Barbatos couldn't help but laugh. "Here, let's feed Wendy before she climbs up on the table and feeds herself!" He jumped up and grabbed their daughter who was trying to reach the oatmeal. He handed her to Elaina to hold while he fed her.

The couple was quiet for a while. Barbatos seemed to be in his own mind. After a little while, he seemed to come back from whatever thoughts he was having. They fed and played with Wendy, making her giggle and squeal. "Okay," Barbatos spoke suddenly, after the long span of silence. "O-okay?" Elaina smirked. "Yeah, okay." He repeated. "Okay, what?" She asked. "Okay, let's try for another baby." Barbatos sighed with a small smile on his face. He knew she just wanted to hear him say it. "Really!?" She cheered. "Really." He laughed. How could he say no to her? Of course, him caving like that, so soon and so suddenly made Elaina wonder what else she could get away with.