"Baby," the toddler said seriously, peering down from Delilah's embrace.

"Yes, a baby girl. Maybe someday you two will fall in love and get married. What do you think, my darling?" she asked, though that was many, many years away and she knew he had no idea what it was she was asking him.

"Li' mumma an' dada?" the little boy asked, still peering down at the baby girl in Seren's arms. He wasn't quite old enough yet to immediately consider the idea of girls as being generally icky.

"Don't you think you're jumping the gun, just a wee bit, Lilah?" Dorian scolded.

"Hush!" Delilah scolded Dorian right back. "Si, just like Mumma and Dada, my love," she told the little boy, crouching down on the floor she he could get a better look at the baby girl.

"I told you she'd pick a wedding date if it was a girl," Kit murmured to Dorian in amusement, hands now in his pockets as he stood beside his friend. He caught Seren's lips twitching, content that his own wife didn't have lupine hearing to catch him dropping her in it.

"I haven't picked a date ....yet," Delilah pointed out, overhearing her husband, murmur or no murmur. Kit whispered like a buzz in a sawmill anyway, as far as Delilah was concerned. Besides, she knew him too well. "Isn't she adorable, chico?" she asked her Leo again.

Kit snorted with laughter, rolling his eyes as he nudged Dorian. "I'll go and get lunch started, then," he said, already turning toward the kitchen. "You've got Neville and Demi dropping by with the trio, too?"

"Not until later," Dorian replied. He didn't want to overburden Seren with too many visitors all at once. "Emrys and Marissa are coming by tomorrow."

"Just nudge me, and I'll pull her away with time for you two to rest a bit before your brother arrives," Kit promised him with a wink, ducking into the kitchen to go ahead and create lunch for their little group. Over by the window, Seren was gently lifting Asha up in the crook of her arm so Leo could have a better look at the baby girl.

Dorian glanced over at the women and deciding it was safe to leave them on their own for a bit, he followed Kit into the kitchen to help rustle up some lunch. In the meantime, Delilah was still ooohing and aaahing over baby Asha.

"What do you think Kit would say if I told him I was pregnant?" she asked Seren, lowering her voice so the men wouldn't overhear her.

"Before or after he threw you on the bed to re-enact the moment of conception?" Seren countered with a warm smile. "You know as well as I do that Kit would be as happy as you are about it. I assume you are happy about it?"

Delilah frowned. "Leo isn't even two yet," she pointed out, more worried about Kit's reaction to the news than anything else. "I told him we had to wait until he was potty-trained."

"Lilah, you're one of the most capable people I know," Seren pointed out affectionately to her best of friends. "If you are expecting again, you will rise to the challenge, and you'll be happy to. And Kit will be delighted, you know that."

"But will Leo?" she asked, looking to her young son who had yet to decide whether he liked the looks of the newborn or not. He wiggled his way out of her arms so he could properly get a better look at her.

Seren's smile gentled as she ended up with Leo sitting on one knee while inspecting newborn Asha in her other arm. "He's too little to fully understand," she reminded Delilah fondly. "But how many little kids are not totally in love with their little brothers and sisters?"

"Not many, I suppose," Delilah admitted, watching as Leo inspected the newborn. She didn't think he'd do anything to hurt her, but she stayed close by just in case. "I adore my boys, but I want a little girl," she confessed quietly.

"Then I guess you'd better take a test," Seren said softly. "So if it comes out negative, you can get right on that." She smiled at her friend reassuringly. "I don't think you have anything to worry about, Lilah."

"I'm gonna keep trying until I have a girl. I don't care if we have to have six boys to do it!" Delilah said, raising her voice just a tad too loud, if she didn't want to be overheard.

Seren laughed, the movement jostling Leo on her leg and drawing the toddler out of his contemplation of the sleeping baby in her arms. He giggled along with his adoptive aunt, opening his arms to Delilah once again.

It wasn't that she didn't love her son; she adored him, but she'd been the only girl in a family of boys, and seeing Seren with a daughter only made her want it all the more. She settled herself on the floor at Seren's feet and scooped the little man onto her lap, fingers moving to comb through his hair.

"Kit wants to take him for a haircut, but I love his curls!" she confessed further.

"Maybe a trim, then?" the redhead suggested with a quiet chuckle. "I mean, I know his mane is one of his glories, but he kinda needs to be able to see, too." The teasing warmth in her voice was affectionate as she looked down at her friend and the toddler, cuddling her own baby close. For a long time, Seren had been convinced that she would never be able to have a family this way, but Delilah had talked her through it and made it possible. How could she ever repay her"

"He's supposed to have a mane. He's a lion!" Delilah explained, turning to the toddler in her arms and giving him her best roar before lying him on the floor and tickling him. "Rwwrrrrrr!"

In the kitchen, Kit laughed at the sound of his wife's roar and the uproarious cackling laughter from his son that followed it, hands busily putting together cold cuts and salad bits and pieces to provide a meal that the wolves wouldn't turn their noses up at but was also balanced enough for the humans.

"Just wait - in six months, that'll be your wife and child making your ears bleed," he informed Dorian cheerfully.

"Leo is a little older than six months," Dorian reminded his friend, but he got his meaning. "Besides, you love it and you know it. You and Delilah should have been married years ago." And they probably would have been, if Kit hadn't been so afraid to ask her.

Kit snorted, turning the sound into a cough as he took a sip from his glass. He knew perfectly well where this was going. Seren glanced at Dorian with a grin of her own.

"Well, you already have such a heavy burden at full moon," she teased their friends. "Between the triplets, the twins, their little brother, and Leo ....perhaps it would be cruel to ask you to take on one more."

Delilah merely smiled sweetly. "If you don't think we can handle them, just say so," she said before adding, "Besides, we need the practice handling a baby girl, don't we, querido?"

"Don't say so, she'll take it as a challenge," Kit advised, laying a plate in front of his wife before handing Leo a rolled up piece of ham to chew on. He caught his wife's look, a softer smile crossing his face. "That we do."

"No, I mean, we really need the practice," Delilah repeated, giving her husband a look that said he might want to think about that harder. Though she had no idea whether they were having a boy or a girl, she had missed one cycle and was pretty sure she was pregnant. Dorian took a bite of his sandwich to hide the grin on his face. If he understood what it was Lilah was trying to get at.

This time, Kit really coughed, catching on at the second attempt with juice spraying out of his nose.

Leo cackled, waving his handful of meat at his father. "Dadada bllllrrrrm!"

"Of course, girls aren't much different than boys until they're older, I suppose," Lilah continued. "Diapering is probably easier, and girls don't need to learn how to aim."

At this, Dorian couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, that's a plus."

"Seeing as Leo's aim is as good as his comical timing, I think we can breathe easier than you two," Seren agreed with Dorian, swallowing her mouthful with a smile.

Delilah merely smiled sweetly over at her husband and handed him a napkin to mop up the juice he'd just sprayed from his nose. "Dada is a silly man, isn't he, ninito?" she asked the toddler, not really expecting an answer.

Kit was laughing now, though, even as he wiped up his face. "He clearly gets his timing from his mother," he managed, sniffling in amusement. "I've always been more of a dramatic monologues man."

"Have you nothing to say about this, querida?" Delilah asked Kit with a pretty pout on her face. Dorian knew better than to butt in, but couldn't help but smirk knowingly over at Seren.

Ignoring the knowing looks between the other couple, Kit wiped the last of the juice from his face to smile over at Delilah. "It's a bit sooner than you told me to wait for," he said, his smile deepening. "But are you really expecting me to be anything but thrilled?"

"Well, I am sure Leo will be out of diapers by then," Delilah reasoned, perhaps more for her own reassurance than his. "I have not seen the midwife yet, but I am pretty sure."

"I'll get right on the potty training with a vengeance," Kit promised, reaching over to tickle Leo's chin. "You and me, kiddo, are going to learn all about the wonders of plumbing."

Leo giggled at his father's affection and tried and failed to repeat the word "plumbing". "You have about eight months," Delilah warned, the remark aimed at her husband, not their son. "But that is not why we are here. We are here to celebrate the birth of this lovely ninita," she said, looking back at Seren and the baby. "We are so very happy for you both," she added, speaking for both herself and Kit.

"It wouldn't have happened without you," Seren said softly, firm in her belief that it had been Delilah's intervention that had lead to this feeling of absolute contentment now she sat with her mate and their child. "And why can't we celebrate it all together" We're family, you're part of our pack. How many other couples can say they've got wolves for babysitters?"

"How many can say they babysit for wolves?" Delilah countered, smiling warmly at her friend, who she thought of as a sister.

Dorian lifted his glass of juice to toast their lives. "To us! May we live long and happy lives and have lots of children!" he said, though he'd be just as happy with one as with six.

"Hear, hear!" Kit raised his own glass, one hand wrapping Leo's pudgy fist about the handle of his sippy cup so the toddler could join in the toast with everyone else.

"To family," Seren agreed, laughing a little as Asha let out a perfectly timed fart as the toast was joined.

Dorian laughed upon hearing Asha put her two cents in. "To family," Delilah echoed, smiling with warm affection at her husband and friends and children. Deciding to settle down near their friends was the best decision they'd ever made.

For a moment, there was stillness, with each of them considering their own place in their strange but perfect family grouping, before Kit put his glass down, leaning forward on his elbows. "So what are we going to call our daughter?" he asked Delilah, not even considering that it might be another boy brewing inside her.

She smiled sweetly back at her husband, and without a moment's hesitation said, "We could name her Kitty, but that might be confusing." She had not really thought too much about names yet, just getting used to the idea of having another child.

"Christina," Kit corrected his wife playfully, chuckling. "Kitty sounds ridiculous unless you're eighty years old and embracing your long-lost youth with rainbow hair and flares."

Delilah pouted again. "I kind of like Kitty," she muttered to herself. "Christina Seren, perhaps?" she suggested. She'd rather name their daughter in honor of her closest friend than herself, which she thought was a little too egotistical. "Or perhaps Dorianna?" she teased, smirking over at their friend.

It was Dorian's turn to sputter. "Please, don't," he insisted.

"Lily's a good name, too," Seren offered with a soft smile. She shifted, carefully handing Asha over to Dorian so she could eat her own lunch now he was close to finishing.

Dorian chuckled. "I thought you said you needed the practice," he teased his friend.

"Yes, but ....No, Kit needs the practice," Delilah pointed out.

"I have a sleeping toddler," Kit said cheerfully, decidedly pleased with how this was working out in his favor. Leo might be as heavy as an anvil when he fell asleep, but right now, Kit was all for it. "Besides, you're still going to have to deal with his smells. Asha's backside won't be anywhere near as bad as his for at least a month."

Delilah sighed, looking to Dorian for rescue, who threw up his hands in response.

"Don't look at me. I don't want to sleep in the doghouse tonight." Not that they had a doghouse.

"Oh, very well," Delilah muttered, sighing as she looked down at the baby. "Shall we get you cleaned up, pequeno?" she said, moving to her feet with the little one in her arms. How much could a tiny baby poop anyway"

"She's only a day old, bella, how bad could it be?" Kit added in amusement, watching as Delilah took the tiny girl over to the changing station the Hadleys had set up in the kitchen. At least everything was within arms' reach.

"Clearly you do not remember much about newborns, querido," Delilah countered, but she made no further complaints as she went about cleaning and re-diapering the newborn, oohing and aahing at her the whole time despite the smell.

"I'm sure you'll be happy to remind me in eight months' time," was Kit's lackadaisical response through his smile. She was right about one thing, though - being in Rhy'Din, so close to Dorian and his little family, it felt like home, and that was something they hadn't had in almost the entire time they had known each other. It was a good feeling.

"I'm sure I will," Delilah agreed. "Oh, look at that! She still has her little nub!" she said, regarding the nub of the umbilical cord that was still attached to the newborn's belly button. "Isn't that adorable?"

"Adorable is not the word I would use to describe that abomination," Seren said with a laugh. "Apparently it'll dry up and drop off in about a week?"

"Si, just make sure it doesn't stick to anything and come off too soon," she warned. Despite her complaints, taking care of a newborn the second time around was a piece of cake, especially when the baby wasn't yours.

"It stinks, too," Seren added in complaint, though she knew only she and Dorian could actually smell the umbilical remnant at this moment. Dying flesh never smelled good, but she had not expected it to be a formative part of her memories of becoming a new mother.

"It will be gone soon enough," Delilah assured her friend, tossing the soiled diaper into the bin. She squeezed a bit of hand sanitizer onto her hands and rubbed it in before picking the newborn back up. "There we go. Little girls should smell like sugar and spice and everything nice, not like a soiled nappy."

Asha cooed, happy with her clean backside, it seemed. Seren chuckled. "Have to say, it's nice having experts living right next door."

"Not experts," Delilah corrected. "Just a little more experienced," she said as she rejoined them at the table, the little one tucked into the crook of her arm. "Is he asleep?" she asked, looking over at her son in his father's arms.

"Feels like it," Kit said, glancing down at the toddler on his lap. Leo had curled up against his chest, thumb securely in his mouth as he napped. "I guess he decided it was nap time."

"He is such a good little boy," Delilah said with a smile and a sigh. Despite the newborn in her arms, it was no secret that her heart belonged to Leo. "Just like his father," she added with an adoring look at Kit.

"Would you two like a room?" Dorian teased his friends.

"Less of the little," Kit answered, but he was smiling again. Dorian's comment got a roll of his eyes. "Would you?" he countered, raising a brow in challenge. Magic was a wonderful thing, yes, but it could only do so much for sleep deprivation.

Dorian chuckled. "I wouldn't mind a few hours of sleep," he admitted. "Then, why don't you go take a nap?" Delilah suggested. "Both of you. We can handle things here for a few hours."

Seren hesitated, glancing at Dorian. They hadn't been out of the same room as Asha since she'd made her appearance yesterday morning; it was an oddly intimidating thing to consider.

"I am serious, hermana," Delilah assured the other woman. "Leo will nap for another hour or so, and we don't mind looking after the little one for a while. Do we, Kit?" she asked, looking to her husband to back her up on this.

"No complaints here," Kit agreed. "We'll even stay here in your house, so you can hear what's going on." He didn't quite understand the animal side of Seren and Dorian, but he could see that asking them to just hand over their newborn might be a little much.

"We need the practice," Delilah reminded their friends, though that was hardly the case. "Anyone can see that you are both exhausted. I promise we will wake you if we need you," she assured them.

Dorian looked to Seren, knowing she was even more tired than he was. "What do you think?"

Biting her lip, Seren looked at Asha for a long moment. She was exhausted, and it was a very generous offer from their friends. So she nodded reluctantly. "Just ....stay in the house?" she asked, feeling terrible for needing to ask.

"Yes, of course. We will be right here," Delilah promised. Where were they going to go, after all" If Dorian and Seren didn't trust them by now, they never would.

"It really isn't personal, Lilah," Seren tried to explain. "It's ....I hate saying this, but it's a wolf thing. I used to look after the newborns when I was a pup, and I never really understood why the mamas wouldn't leave the hut until their kids were moving around on their own. I guess it's the drive to protect the young, you know" It isn't that I don't trust you."

"I'm not sad," she promised him. "I'm not sad, not at all. I'm happier than I've ever been. I just ....When wolves whelp, they stay in the den with their pressed close against them for weeks afterward. The wolf inside me wants me to do that, and she's fighting me about behaving like a human. That's all this is. It's her instinct against my sense, and right now, she's a little stronger than me at times. It'll get better."

"Oh, I see," he murmured, though he couldn't really understand it the way she did, as he hadn't experienced it. His instincts were mostly human, unless he was in wolf form, and that only happened during a full moon. "Is there anything I can do?" he asked, obviously concerned.

"You're already doing it," she told him with a gentle smile. "Reminding me that I'm not a wolf, and I don't have to be ruled by her instincts. That you won't think less of me for being ruled by her sometimes."

"I would never think less of you, Seren," Dorian assured her, though she seemed to know that already. "I love you, and I just want to make you happy. Help me to do that."

"I am happy," she promised, rising onto her toes to brush a kiss to his lips. "I just need sleep." Now that was the Seren he knew; the cheerful woman who laughed at her own weaknesses even as she acknowledged them, coming back to herself after a battle with the inner beast who didn't understand why they were fighting at all.

"Then you should sleep," Dorian replied, smiling into her kiss. "How does the saying go' 'Sleep when the baby sleeps'?" he quoted. It was good advice, if you were able to follow it.

"Come to bed, then," she countered warmly, giving him a gentle tug toward their wide bed. It was a matter of moments to drop down into the nest of blankets and soft sheets, always a tangle no matter what they did. Wolves liked to make their dens comfortable, after all.

There was nothing to argue with there, both of them needing a little extra sleep. He climbed into bed next to her, both of them burrowing deep into the blankets, though it was the middle of summer. "I love you, Seren," he told her again, his voice quiet and full of affection as they settled into each other's arms.

"Always love you," she murmured in response, nestling close into his arms. Her lips brushed his neck as she found her accustomed place, tucked close beneath his chin. "Still smell so good to me, baby."

"So do you," he murmured back, letting his eyes drift shut as he held her close.

Maybe he wouldn't fall into a deep sleep, but even a short nap was better than nothing and would help them get through the rest of the day. There were still things he wanted to say, things he needed her to know, but all that could wait. Right now, what she needed was rest and to know she was loved, and he was more than happy to provide that. They had all the time in the world.

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Asha Maris - DOB 7/31/20