A Most Surprising Change [&&; Private]

[Rachel]

Maybe Callisto might have been wrong to assume parenthood was the most grotesque thing to grace the planet. She had her reasons for such a radical notion of course, the main one being that she had no access to her own parents to ask about it. All she had was two parents who [in her opinion] abandoned their responsibility, an Aunt who spoiled her daughter rotten; and not in a sweet endearing way either. Jaime was a brat, nothing more, nothing less. And Callisto's final spectacular demonstration of great parenthood was Felicity, the result of a one night stand with a muggle mechanic.

With such stunning examples set before her, why on earth hadn't she rushed into parenthood sooner?

But it was hard to think of those dark, sour things when she lay in the nursery, cradling her darling Mireille in her arms. She smelt wonderful, baby oil and a powdery vanilla smell. Unlikes her younger brother she hadn't wanted to go to sleep - bless her little blonde head. She was a little more concerned with eating Callisto's hair and gurgling to let her mother know she was still concious. Mireille was so strong and yet so weak, when she grabbed a hold of part of Callisto's hair, she refused to let go until Callisto prised her hand open. Yet, to keep her arms upright, her neck straight, her small body turned towards Callisto's chest was such an effort for the girl it almost made Callisto laugh.

Gently, the thirty-something-year-old caressed her daughters cheek and then took hold of one of her daughters hands, allowing it to grip tightly. "Miri, you have to get some rest dear, hm?" she held Mireille close and shook her tiny little fist gently. The differences between her and her twin brother were startling, they hadn't opened their eyes yet, but Callisto was willing to bet eye-colour was the only thing they had in common.

[Kathryn]

If it was one thing Conor liked above all other inanimate things, it was space and quiet. Running ones own business wasn't as easy as he liked to make it look, and even with the presence of a part time nanny, neither was caring for children. They were loud, always needing his or Callisto's attention, and usually crying. Because of this, he found at the end of the day he needed to retreat into his study, the one room in the house that was completely in his taste, the rest being a mix of his and Callisto's, though sometimes ones preferences dominated mildly over the others, and he'd do his boring mindless paperwork and allow his mind to settle.

Despite the fact that his youngest children had good lungs and seemed fond of showing them off, he found that like with his first child, he hopelessly adored them and all the nicer aspects of child rearing definately made up for all the bits he'd rather avoid.

It was one such evening, that he'd taken the necessary twenty minutes of putting his eldest child down for the night and dealt with the, "Daddy read me another story," a request he found he couldn't deny, though his son fell asleep half way through the second, and he could retreat back to his study for another hour. This one had always loved sleep, and Conor was always relatively grateful that he went down without much fuss.

He was quickly figuring out that the twins weren't as agreeable as their brother. Marius went down relatively easy, sometimes needing to eat before he'd go down quietly, but he never gave his mother much trouble. Mireille however, seemed to grasp the concept of rebelling against what she was ment to be doing just days out of the hospital. Some nights were easier than others.

Appearantly tonight wasn't one of them. He'd left his sanctuary in search of sleep in his bedroom, [which he was entirely thankful his wife's bought of vanity was finished and she felt pretty enough again to let him come back], and found that, with little surprise, his wife wasn't back yet. Which probably met his precious daughter had decided she wasn't quite ready for sleep yet.

Kicking off his shoes and removing his tie he backed out of the room and headed towards the nursery, leaving the items where he'd discarded them, as he usually did, and propped himself up on the door frame of the nursery for a moment to take in the sight before him.

Marius, as he'd expected, was asleep. And Mireille was curled up against her mother, alternately trying to swat her hands away and curl her tiny fists in the long brown locks. His wife was alternating between stroking their daughter's soft cheek and keeping her hair from being pulled out of her head, and all the while murming softly with an unusually warm smile on her face. His wife was a lovely woman, he'd always thought so, but motherhood did something entirely else for her.

After he'd finished appreciateing the sight, he gently pushed himself away from the door frame to walk lightly into the room, after peeking at his son to make sure he was still sleeping soundly, he moved behind the arm chair his wife was occupying and trailed his fingers up and down her arm softly in greeting as he peered over the curve of her shoulder at the child nestled in her arms, and in an equally soft tone murmered, "She's still not settling down..?"

[Rachel]

Mireille, smiling at her mother as always, continued to fight her urge to sleep. Callisto knew the girl was due to the gentle wispy yawns she kept giving every so often now. "Miiiiri, you're sleeepy." she said, poking the girl gently in her tummy and trying not to laugh at the tiny girl's giggles. Now Callisto had probably ruined any hope of getting Mireille to sleep herself, she shook her head and leaned back into her chair with an exhausted but pleased smile. Fine, Mireille wasn't going to sleep, but at least Callisto had managed to make her giggle.

It was at this point in time her weary blue eyes fixed onto the frame of her darling husband at the door. If Callisto was honest with herself, it probably would have been much easier and much simpler for everyone if she just let Conor put the twins to bed every night. Whilst Mireille wasn't what one would call fussy Callisto wouldn't deny for a second that the girl had already expressed which of her two parents she preferred. And of course, Callisto being the humble, happy-go-lucky individual that she was, felt completely bitter about it. It was childish, Callisto knew it was childish but she'd never felt so attached to another living thing before. All she'd done was give birth to Mireille, you know, nothing big... so why on earth the girl preferred her father was beyond Callisto.

Mireille already seemed expert at twisting Callisto around her little finger though, and so the mother couldn't be too mad about this. Knowing full well what was coming, Callisto continued to play with Miri's tiny little fist and watched fondly as Conor looked over Marius. "Out like a light, as always..." Callisto commented, relaxing her arm slightly as Conor's hand ran along it. "Nope, she refusing too, and thinks it's funny as well, huh Miri?" Callisto asked the young child with a smile. It only took a few seconds, perhpas the tiredness had delayed her reaction, but soon she was even more awake than she had been previously. Conor's voice had been the trigger that made Mireille a tad more fussy than she had bee, her little arms stretching in the direction of their daddy's voice.

"Of course..." Callisto chuckled, gently rising up out of her seat so that Conor could take it. "I think she wants her daddy." and with that Callisto moved closer to Conor, attempting to transfer the girl safely into his arms.