▹(iii) | mumma's okay [c. walker]

castor's age in the chapter: 6

bonus - azure's age in the chapter: 5

warnings : like one mention of sex? and a few mentions of death. it's not dark i swear.

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IT WASN'T OFTEN that Castor experienced sleepless nights. When he did, however, it was if he shared the thoughts with his sister. Neither of them could find themselves to be sleepy most Friday nights.

This particular Friday night, however, they found themselves to be hungry.

Little feet pattered in the unsettling quiet of the night, the children holding each others hands as they stumbled in the dim lights the were flickered on for the dark.

"Are you sure, Castor?" Azure spoke with a slight lisp. "Won't daddy be mad?"

"It's okay, Zura, it's not like we're hurting someone."

Lo and behold, their father stood in the kitchen, back leaning against the large counter as he stared out the window. The siblings shared a look before starting to back away, eyes squeezing shut and breath caught in their throats when Castor bumped into a cupboard and it made noise.

Malcolm Walker turned towards the source of the sound, frowning when he saw nothing. Assuming that it was one of the cats that roamed the castle — animals were free to come and go as they pleased — he walked around the island and towards the cabinet, besides which his darling children crouched in hopes of being invisible.

He let out a laugh, warm and comforting in the cold of the night. He too, crouched down, meeting his daughter's eye who looked at him sheepishly, Castor barely hiding a grin at the fact that their father wasn't going to ask them to go back to bed — right?

Right.

Malcolm picked both of them in his arms, setting his son on the island and balancing his daughter in one arm as he reached for the milk in the fridge.

"Guess none of us can sleep, tonight." Malcolm nudged Azure's temple with his nose, making her giggle, while kicking the fridge door shut. "Except for your mum — she's sleeping like the dead."

Castor gasped, eyes widening, and Malcolm immediately regretted his words, "Mummy's dead?"

"Nononononono—" Malcolm was quick to place the milk on the counter beside the stove, pulling Castor closer to his chest when he noticed the boy's lower lip wobble, "Mummy's completely fine, darling. It's—It's just a metaphor, yeah? Just a way to say something."

Azure, completely tuning their father-son out right after she knew that 'mummy's fine', starting munching on a banana from the fruit basket.

"What's that mean?"

"It means. . . it's just a way to say things, to make them sound more. . . interesting."

"Interesting?" Castor looked up at his father, the tears that had welled up in his eyes dried on the apples of his cheeks. "Papa, I got scared."

"I'm sorry." Malcolm kissed Castor's forehead. "I should've thought before speaking."

Castor sniffled, "It's okay."

Malcolm held Castor close to him for a little longer, rubbing his back and kissing his hair every now and then. Then, when Castor mumbled, "I'm hungry", he grinned and started making pasta, putting the milk back in the fridge for later.

Fifteen minutes later, with help from Castor and Azure ("Cas, pass me that spoon, please?" and "Zura, give me that oregano, baby? No no no, the bottle next to the yellow one. Yeah, that's it, thank you!" and so on) three of them ate the pasta right from the pan, after it had cooled of course.

"Papa?"

"Yeah Cas?"

"Is mumma really okay?"

Malcolm paused his chewing, cursing himself for ever saying those words. He swallowed, "Yeah, of course she is. In fact, she's already decided what she's gonna give you next Christmas."

The kids gasped excitedly, "What is it?"

Malcolm was gonna get hell for saying it, "A little brother or sister. But it's a secret, okay? So it will stay between the three of us, and the three of us only. And when I leave for work tomorrow, you both have to promise not to annoy Mumma too much, and you'll take care of her?"

They nodded, determined, then let out a hearty giggle, "Yes, papa, we promise."

. . .

THE NEXT MORNING, Malcolm left before the kids woke up.

So, at breakfast, when their mum dropped a fork and bent down to pick it up, Castor rushed to rescue and held the fork in his hands triumphantly, she raised an eyebrow in surprise, but laughed and thanked him nonetheless.

And that afternoon, when their mum was out for her scheduled afternoon walk, Azure was swift in accompanying her — a rarity, since the girl hated the late afternoon sun. Nonetheless, Maia accepted it happily, even happier when Azure actually asked her about the flowers and herbs she'd planted (or gotten planted) in garden.

The kids did everything — they tidied their rooms, didn't whine when they were called for their lessons, and had dinner peacefully.

Something was off.

"Mal?" Later that night, when on call with her husband, Maia finally raised her suspicions.

"Yeah darling?"

"Why are the kids behaving so well?"

The silence on the other end of the line was short, but enough to confirm that Malcolm Walker had a part in this, "I don't think that's such a bad thing, is it—"

"What did you say to them? C'mon, I wanna be able to use whatever you did to make them so—so nice. And they didn't even whine about lessons with Mrs. Patty, you know?"

"I, uh, might've told them about. . .the baby."

Maia raised her eyebrows, "The baby? I thought we weren't going to tell them about it until I started showing, Mal. What if they tell someone?"

"Well, it's our baby isn't it? Doesn't matter if they tell anyone. I know you wanted to keep it between us for a while. . . to celebrate it just between us. But they deserve to know, don't you think?"

"Of course they do. But. . . the way the Duke. . .behaved when I was pregnant with Zura, you'd think I'd burned the Bible alive, not had sex with my husband."

Malcolm let out a snort, "He's just tired of not getting some. And they promised. Trust them, hmm? They're my kids after all, and I'm pretty good at keeping promises."

"You promised not to tell them until avoiding it wasn't an option."

"Because we thought they'd freak out. They didn't."

"Yeah, yeah. . . come home soon?"

"On the next flight as soon as I'm done with the meeting. I love you."

"I love you."

. . .

LATER THAT WEEK, after Maia had spoken with Malcolm and they'd decided to just let things go the way they were going, Castor decided to arrange a picnic.

He had help from uncle Chris, of course, and auntie Sera, too. It was a pleasant Saturday morning, windy but sunny, cool enough to require a cardigan and nothing else.

So, that afternoon, they headed off to the outskirts of London, Christian having managed to find some woods just isolated enough to give them privacy, but not enough to shut them away from the world in case something went awry.

Azure had helped, too. She'd stayed in the kitchen and had dictated the lunches straight from memory, fumbling adorably every now and then and pouting when the chefs giggled at how cute she was when she was dedicated to a cause.

"Mumma, are you feeling okay?" Azure had looked up at Maia with concern when she winced, having stepped on a pebble that almost twisted her ankle. Castor had been holding her hand.

"Yeah baby, I'm fine." Maia gave her a warm smile, and satisfied, Azure skipped ahead with her father. Castor held her hand until they made it to the clearing near the river, and even then, he didn't sit until his mother did.

The bump was coming in. Barely visible as she just barely hit the first trimester milestone.

But it was visible today, because she was wearing a form fitting black t-shirt with the aim of it being visible, because now she could share the joy (and the pain) of being a mother again with her little ones.

The second ultrasound they took, they allowed Castor and Azure to accompany them considering how devoted they were with the task of taking care of their mother, the past months. And they watched in fascination as the doctor (a very nice lady who went by Dr. Agha) applied some cold gel on their mother's swollen belly, then held something like a scanner over her tummy and soon enough, the little t.v. in the corner showed them a light baby. When they gasped in excitement, their father shushed them, gently of course, and asked for them to listen carefully. It was a heartbeat.

"Would you like to know the gender of the baby?"

Maia and Malcolm shared a look, then shook their head no, as they had for the previous two of their kids. The said kids, however, were already nodding rapidly.

"How do you know if the baby is a boy or a girl?" Azure had asked as soon as she registered what the doctor said.

Malcolm and Maia shared another look, then Maia spoke, "They can know. As long as they promise to keep it a surprise."

And keeping it a surprise was something they turned out to be quite skilled at. As the says, weeks, months passed, neither uttered a word about what the envelope Dr. Agha handed them said.

It was early December. Windows adorned frost, the ground covered with sheets of pure snow. Castor and Azure played around, making snow angels as was their tradition, and gathering snow to make a snowman.

Azure's giggle rang out as she threw a snowball at Castor, who deftly dodged and retaliated with his own snowball. The two children were lost in their winter wonderland, oblivious to everything but the fun they were having.

That evening, they came back into the warmth of the castle, snow on their boots crunching with each step they took to their parents' chambers, a bouquet of primrose, snowdrops and winter jasmines each in their hands.

Azure's tiny fist knocked on the door, just like Castor had taught her to, and her father answered, looking down at their tiny figures, cheeks and nose dusted in pink from the biting cold.

Malcolm laughed and picked them up, uncaring of the snow on their sleeves wetting his brown sweater.

"We got this for mumma!"

Mumma was curled up on the window sill, a cup of cocoa in hands and a pencil abandoned on the sketchbook in her lap. She smiled and beckoned them over, carefully grasping the colorful flowers and inhaling their sweet scent.

"Thank you, my loves. Mal, put them in that vase, please?"

Malcolm rolled his eyes in all good fun, helped the kids out of his embrace, then did as told.

Christmas was near. Castor hadn't prepared himself to spend it feeling neglected, but his mother's due date was near, and almost everyone was fussing over her. Especially since her belly was larger than it should've been.

Castor knew why. But he'd promised not to tell.

Christmas morning rolled in with the same sheets of pure white snow, same frosted windows, and his mother's cries of labor.

He all but ran to her chambers, stopping on the way for Zade and Azure. They weren't allowed inside, so they went down to the kitchens, munching on sweet red apples and juicy grapes. An hour later, he'd had his bath, and he was only getting ready to head to his father when Uncle Chris was standing outside his room and grinning a big smile.

And so, once again, he dashed to their room, but this time, Azure and Zade were already there and he was allowed.

"So, slight change," his father spoke while he cradled a small bundle to his chest — a baby. "You get not one sibling, but two sisters this Christmas. Meet Euphemia and Pandora Walker."

"I know you like weird names but those names are weird, even for you both." Castor watched the baby sleep beside his mother, who was also in a deep slumber. She looked tired.

Malcolm laughed, "They were some of the greatest women we knew. Euphemia Minerva and Pandora Lily."