Gen Two Epilogue

I could hear the music all the way from my car. It would be way easier for me to leave the two I had with me in said car as getting them in and out of their seats was a massive pain, but I knew that today would be a difficult day to collect the ones inside. As great as Coal's little dancing sessions were for tiring out Tangerine and getting her to nap without resistance, it also got her in a great huff when I came to interrupt her most favorite kind of fun. Sure enough, after I struggled with the car seats I spotted her bouncing and twirling around through the window as I walked up the familiar front steps.

It was my laughter that alerted them to my presence. Tangerine was in a world of her own, and Coal was so captivated twirling and lifting Ember up to the beat of the music that when he did finally spot me he looked a tad embarrassed at his obliviousness.

     "About time." he joked with that smirking half grin he always wore.

     "Blame it on Desi and Mal. They knew what time I was coming, and neither of them had Mel or Light ready."

     "Daddy!" Tangerine called merrily, bounding over to clutch my leg, "Come dance with us!"

     "Dancing time is over for the moment. Right now it's time to start getting your cousins in the car." I told her.

She pouted as expected.

     "C'mon, remember you're all having a big play date. You can keep dancing once we get everyone home."

Tangerine said nothing. She merely folded her arms and pouted a big pout up at me. There were points when that would work, but this wasn't one of those.

Coal mostly got that look off her face by ruffling her hair after he turned off the music. He then gave his daughter a playful bounce and pointed at me.

     "You want to say hello to your Uncle Wisp today, Em?" he asked.

She stared at me, and then she stared at him. Not a peep escaped her mouth.

     "Helloo?" Coal spoke to her slowly for her to repeat.

It didn't work. While Ember had said her first word by this point, incoherent babbles remained her favorite means of communication.

     "Oh well, we'll get there." Coal shrugged.

Melrose shifted in my arms, and that was what got some sort of reaction out of the youngest of the bunch. One little squeal of excitement came from Ember's lips as she noticed her favorite cousin. She instantly leaned so far forward trying to get to Melrose that Coal had trouble holding onto her. Melrose, on the other hand, merely watched the antics contentedly. Given how sluggish she'd been getting her in and out of the car seat, it was safe to say she'd been the first one to start nap time.

Lightning, however, I could tell he wouldn't be out at any point this day. Given that it was the weekend, he'd probably slept in with his parents like normal. I was just glad he wasn't super high energy like Malachite and Lavender were. Well, I mean, he was a toddler so he had high energy regardless, but Lightning wasn't any more energetic than the average almost two-year-old. He was definitely excitable enough to speed the conversation right to the big thing I had to say before I departed though.

     "Tell news?" he asked me curiously.

     "You've got some news?" Coal wondered.

     "Actually, yeah," I grinned, "These two here got the honor of hearing it first."

I made sure to catch Tangerine's eye.

     "Guess who's going to be a big sister?"

She only tilted her head in confusion.

     "That means it's going to be you." Coal, clearly surprised but excited by the revelation, explained.

And at that, Tangerine began bounding around with even more energy than when she'd been dancing.

A laugh from the dining table turned my attention left. Holly and Mimosa had been there talking casually, but now they were both grinning so widely I swore their cheeks had to be hurting.

     "So it's started." Holly spoke equal parts ominously and amusedly.

     "What's started?" I wondered.

     "The never-ending flow of babies," Coal answered brightly, "Sounds like you haven't heard the others news going around. Prism announced earlier this morning that Palila is a month and a half pregnant, and then half an hour later Hunter announced that he and Vinca are finally having their first child."

     "Oh no." I couldn't help but to laugh.

Well, at least Prism lived in Tinseltown, so that was one less niece and nephew to not have to worry about babysitting on a constant basis. Coal constantly had Tangerine, Lightning, and Melrose over, and I had no idea how he did it.

He even got Tangerine to stop running around. More impressive yet, he managed to calm her down enough to the point where she was receptive to the idea of not dancing for the few minutes it would take me to drive all the young ones to our house.

     "Let me grab Em's diaper bag, and I'll help you get them loaded into the car." Coal proposed.

Mimosa came over to help grab the bag and round the children up as well. I watched everything with a calm sort of joy. I could only imagine the look I would get from mom and dad when they would hear a pregnancy announcement for the third time in one day. I sneaked glances at Coal when he talked to Holly of his excitement over having another niece or nephew to play with. For the guy who hadn't originally wanted kids yet even at the age he was at now, to see him so giddy over the collection he could snuggle in his arms was highly entertaining. It was a good thing Holly reassured me they wouldn't be having a child of their own until after a few years of marriage, and they weren't even thinking of getting engaged any time soon.

That was, of course, more than fine. Seeing everyone happy was certainly all I cared about. By a little bit of a margin, it was just that much nicer to see Coal happy. I often forgot he saw blackness from his right eye, and I think he did too. The quiet, frightened person he'd been after he showed up broken and bleeding in the hospital was long gone. He and Mimosa co-parented from across the street as if it was the most natural thing in the world. So absorbed in my thoughts, I missed Tangerine saying something I normally wouldn't approve of, but I decided not to mind. There was a good mood in the air, and the laughter her words caused heightened the smile everyone wore just that much higher.