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Chapter Two

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Three years later

"Theodore Dane Silva, come back here immediately!" Noelle sighed when she heard his mischievous laugh echo throughout the house. She had Ivy on one hip, sobbing, while she was trying to find her little devil child. Granted, Ivy was no angel either, but that's normal for a three year old. "Theo!" she yelled again.

"He bitted me mommy!" Ivy wailed, sucking on her injured hand. "It hurted!"

"I know sweetie," Noelle sighed, "but you're the one who asked him to show you how sharp his teeth were."

Ivy sniffled pathetically and let another tear fall. "I just wanted to know if his teeth were as sharp as mine. He didn't hafta bite me."

Noelle gave Ivy a sharp look, "You bit him first Ivy Claire." Ivy had the good grace to look abashed, but she didn't stop the tears from falling. In fact she started sobbing harder when Raine entered the room.

"Daddy!" she sobbed.

Raine took Ivy from Noelle and wiped away her tears, "Princesses don't cry, silly girl. What's wrong?" He kissed her hand when she held it out to him, claiming to have a boo-boo. "Theo!" he bellowed, knowing his son was responsible for part, if not all, of this situation.

"How come you always side wif her?" his son whined, as he trudged into the room. He had a problem with pronouncing the 'th' sound, which made it a problem for saying his name. However, he hadn't let it bother him yet, so neither Noelle nor Raine was worried. They figured he would grow out of it, like every other child. "It's not fair! I didn't do nuffin wrong!" He glared mulishly at Ivy who stuck her tongue out. "She's just a stupid girl anways."

"Now Theo," Raine reprimanded, "your sister is not stupid. I thought I taught you better than that. Women are to be respected, no matter what. Understood?" Theo mumbled something under his breath, so Raine nudged him lightly. "What was that?"

"Nuffin," he said, trying to keep a straight face.

"I'm not sure I heard you correctly," Raine teased, tickling his son lightly. Theo squealed and tried to run away, but Raine caught him around the waist with one hand and brought him back to his side. Ivy gave a delighted giggle and tried to help her daddy tickle Theo, but suddenly she found herself being tickled.

"Nooo!" she shrieked. "Mommy help us!" Theo and Ivy cried happily. Noelle simply laughed and watched the loves of her life laugh and roll around. Even though they were a handful, she loved her children with all of her heart.

Finn and Violet entered the room a couple minutes later with their two year old daughter, Alexia. "What is going on in here?" Finn asked with a smile.

Two heads popped up and broke into ear-splitting grins, "Unca Finn!" they laughed, running to tackle Finn. He laughed heartily and patted them on the head.

"Hi Aunt Violet," Theo blushed. She chuckled lightly and crouched down to give him a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. His face turned the color of a tomato as he turned to run away in embarrassment.

"I told you," Noelle grinned at Violet. She had tried to warn Violet that her son had a crush on her. He had told Noelle that he and Violet were going to get married some day and be just as happy as she and Raine were. Noelle hadn't had the heart to discourage his little crush.

Alexia squirmed in Violet's arms, begging to be put down. Violet obliged and watched with a satisfied smile as she took off towards Theo. "Toe!" Alexia chirped, unable to say 'Theo' correctly. "Toe!"

The four of them watched their children play with each other, wondering when they had gotten so lucky to have a family. Alexia was already starting to show signs of being a panther, something that had surprised the women. But the men had simply strutted around like peacocks, claiming to have superior genes.

Theo and Ivy were still a mystery. Neither gave signs of being more pixie-like or panther. In fact, no signs had shown up at all. They figured that by the time they were five, it would be obvious what they were. Noelle and Raine had decided to ignore King Clovis's warning about a good versus evil child and focused on loving their children equally. Besides, they were too busy with other things to worry about silly gossip.

Soon the rest of the gang started to trickle into the room, bringing their children with them. "How come fere's more girls?" Theo grumbled. "I want boys to play wif, not silly girls!" He was sitting on the ground with Ivy, Alexia, Norah, Paige and Laura.

"What are you talking about, dear?" Noelle asked, pointing at Paxton and Ingrid's kids, "you have Micah and Corbin to play with."

"I can't play wif babies!" he said exasperated. Even though Micah was a little over one, he was too young to play rough with and Corbin couldn't even crawl. He turned his bright green eyes to look at Jed and a very pregnant Delilah, "I'm happy you're having a boy. It'll make fings equaler."

Delilah and Jed looked shocked as they stared at Theo. "How did you know we're having a boy? We didn't even know!" They turned to look at Raine and Noelle who shrugged, just as confused as them.

Theo rolled his eyes and pushed his little red car back and forth. "I saw it. His name is Bentley and we're gonna be best friends."

There was a long pause as the adults took in the weight of his words. It sounded like he could predict the future, or something along those lines. "Can pixies predict the future?" Raine whispered to Noelle and Violet.

Violet frowned, "Yes, but it's very rare. Not many pixies can see the future."

"This is ridiculous," Jed boomed, "no son of mine is going to be named Bentley!" he sneered the name like it was a disease.

"Why not?" Fletcher teased, "it sounds like something you'd name a dog." Jed growled menacingly, but Delilah's hand on his arm calmed him down.

Tamsin glared at Fletcher, hitting him on the back of the head, "Be nice," she growled. "I don't want Norah or Laura to hear you."

He rolled his eyes, but minded his tongue, knowing that his daughters had hearing like a bat. They worshiped him and if he wasn't careful, they would start acting like him. Good God, he didn't want to think about his daughters growing up. It just wasn't going to happen. They were going to stay little forever, that way Fletch wouldn't have to worry about beating guys away with a stick. And he knew he was going to have to once they did grow up. Christ, his head hurt just thinking about it.

"Paige, sweetie, it's time for us to leave," Clover said softly, reaching out for daughter. She and Ryder had made an agreement with her father to live at the Pixie Court, but they had insisted on being able to visit their friends whenever possible. Reluctantly, King Clovis had agreed. Noelle secretly thought it was because he wanted to keep an eye on her two children, but she never voiced her opinion.

Paige grinned toothily at her parents and waddled over, "Up!" she said, holding her arms in the air. Ryder leaned down and scooped her up, tossing her into the air. She squealed happily and wrapped her chubby arms around his neck when he brought her back down. "I wuv you!" she said, smacking a kiss on Ryder's cheek. He tapped her nose and waved goodbye to everyone, promising to return soon.

"Mommy," Ivy asked, tugging on Noelle's leg. "How come Auntie Clover smelled funny?"

"What do you mean?" Noelle asked, looking at Raine for help. He shrugged, useless man.

"She didn't smell like she usually does, like the forest and spices. Today she also smelled like hay and burnt wood. It wasn't bad, just not her normal scent."

"Duh Ivy, she's pregnant too," Theo muttered, rolling his eyes as if she should have known that.

Ivy's brown eyes widened, "Oh! That would explain the different smell. Like a whole 'nother person was inside her." She giggled, happy that the mystery had been solved and called for Alexia to play with her and the dolls.

"What in the hell is going on?" Raine growled worriedly. He was damn proud that his children were smarter than average, but at the same time it was starting to worry him. Even he couldn't tell that Clover had smelled differently. She wasn't far enough along for him to discern the baby's scent. Somehow, his three-year old daughter had smelled it though. That scared him.

Noelle wrapped her arm around his waist and leaned her head against him. "Let's not worry about it right now," she suggested. "We'll keep an eye on them, like we always do, but I don't think we need to start freaking out just yet."

"Alright," Raine said softly, kissing her on the forehead.

"Are you going to have sex?" Theo blurted out as he watched them with wide eyes.

"Sex! Sex! Sex!" Corbin echoed happily, grinning up at Paxton and Ingrid, who tried to discourage him, even though it was his first word.

"I can't believe my child's first word was 'sex'!" Paxton moaned, glaring at Theo through his hand.

Raine and Noelle jerked apart and stared at him. "Theodore Dane Silva, where did you learn that word?" Raine growled.

He blinked and gave a wicked smile. "Unca Fletch says it a lot to Auntie Tam when he gives her looks like you give momma," Theo explained.

"Ow!" Fletch yelped when Tamsin punched his arm.

"You idiot!" she hissed. "I told you to watch what you say from now on!" Rolling her eyes, she gave an apologetic look to Raine and Noelle. "I'm sorry, guys. He's starting to be more careful when the girls are around, but he forgets himself a lot."

"I can't help myself," he said with smoldering eyes, "I really want to add another male to our family ratio. It's so unfair with the three of you ganging up on me all the time." Tamsin flushed a pretty pink color and smacked Fletch again, making him chuckle.

Raine glanced at his two children, wondering what the hell he was going to do with them. They were only three years old, but he could swear he was developing gray hair. No, he amended, silver hair, that was more refined and elegant. He didn't want to think about them being a pixie or a panther and frankly he didn't give a shit. He would be damn proud of his children-already was-no matter they turned out to be.

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second attempt at uploading this chapter. hope it works.