Work Text:
We'll tell our stories on these walls
Every year, measure how tall
And just like a work of art
We'll tell our stories on these walls
Beau woke to the smell of pancakes and coffee. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and rolled over in bed and reached for her phone to check the time. Just after nine.
With a soft groan, she stood from the bed and did a full-body stretch, sighing as her spine and knees gave a few pops. She glanced over at the baby crib in the corner and seeing her son wasn’t in it she opened the bedroom door and trudged down the stairs and headed towards the kitchen, a smile spreading across her face when she entered it.
Yasha was at the stove, flipping a pancake over in the skillet while two of their three children sat at the dining table, eating pancakes and bacon. Beau walked over and ruffled the already bed ruffled hair of her son.
The child laughed and ducked out from his parent’s hand then smiled up at her. “Hey, PopPop!”
Her daughter smiled up at her as well and waved her syrup-covered fork. “Mornin’, PopPop!”
Beau’s smile grew as she looked at her children. The twins were a beautiful blend of both her and Yasha; their skin was dark like Beau’s but they had Yasha’s stark white hair. Mika, their daughter, had her hair pulled back and braided much like Yasha’s and had her mother’s purple eyes whereas Finn’s short but shaggy hair was softly curled, much like Beau’s when it was down. He had Beau’s striking blue eyes but Yasha’s soft-spoken personality and Mika was a spitfire like Beau, always getting into trouble and talking back with a smirk.
Beau walked over and kissed the top of Mika’s head. “Morn- ow! ”
Beau doubled over, rubbing her shin that her third child just lovingly rammed into with their walker. Beau’s eyes narrowed at the green and freckled face of her adoptive son.
“ Brat,” Beau hissed even as she smiled, placing her foot back onto the ground.
The little half-orc boy gurgled up at her with a smile, showing off his little tusks. He reached up at her with little grabby hands and Beau glared at him for a moment before picking him up from his walker.
“Good mornin’, Cricket,” Beau said to him. “Happy now that I’m giving you attention?”
Cricket gurgled at her again with a wide smile and bright, brown eyes. A little bit of drool leaked from the corner of his mouth and Beau reached up and wiped his mouth with her thumb as she made her way over to Yasha.
“Good morning, baby,” Yasha said with a smile, turning to kiss Beau softly. When they pulled apart, Yasha dropped a kiss on top of Cricket’s curly hair. Cricket smiled up at her and reached for Yasha and Yasha gave him a small smile. “Sorry, sweetheart, Mama’s cooking.”
Cricket began to pout and Beau quickly walked back over to the dining table, snatching a few pieces of bacon on her way. “Sorry, little man. You’re stuck with me for the time being.” She pulled out an empty chair and sat, holding Cricket in her lap. She glanced around at the twins. “Guys excited for the festival?”
“Yeah!” they both exclaimed at once. “When are we going?” Finn asked.
Yasha walked over and set a plate with a stack of pancakes and bacon on it in front of Beau with a smile. “Later this afternoon,” Yasha answered. “We still need to carve our pumpkins, too, so I thought we could do that after breakfast.”
The twins’ faces lit up with matching smiles.
Yasha smiled and reached for a piece of bacon on Beau’s plate, laughing as she ate it when Beau grunted angrily at her.
“Hey!” Beau exclaimed. “I love you but my love has limits. Watch it.”
Yasha laughed and reached for Cricket, taking him from Beau. “I’ll take my chances.” Beau continued to glare at her, trying to hide her smile as she reached for the syrup.
Later, after breakfast and laying Cricket down for his late morning nap, Yasha and Beau set up the kitchen table for pumpkin carving. Yasha spread out the newspaper as Beau brought in the pumpkins from the garage with Mika and Finn helping.
Beau and the twins deposited the pumpkins onto the table as Yasha came back from getting a couple of pumpkin carving kits, a few markers, and the trash can from the kitchen. A movie played in the background from the living room, something about three witches coming back to life after a virgin lit a candle.
“Jester hates this movie so much,” Beau said with a laugh as she turned her pumpkin around, inspecting it.
“Why does Auntie Jester hate it?” Mika asked as she climbed into her seat and sat on her knees for more height.
“Because you can’t just light a candle and bring someone back from the dead,” Yasha answered. She helped Mika and Finn situate their pumpkins in front of them before handing them markers. The twins uncapped their markers and began drawing the faces they wanted to carve out. Mika drew a scary face with slanted eyes and a sharp-toothed evil smile while Finn drew a silly face, with crossed eyes and a wide and happy grin.
Beau leaned over in her chair and smiled as she looked at Finn’s design then ruffled his hair. “Looks good, little man.”
Finn’s face split into a wide grin, showing off the gap between his teeth from a recently lost tooth. “Thanks, PopPop!”
“What about mine?” Mika asked eagerly, turning her pumpkin around for Beau to see.
Beau’s smile only grew and she gave her daughter a thumbs up. “Spooky!” Mika smiled and turned her pumpkin back around.
“Very spooky,” Yasha agreed. She was opening the two carving kits they had bought with their pumpkins. She handed the tools over to the kids who eagerly but carefully took them. “Need help cutting the top off?”
“I got it,” Mika said, turning her pumpkin on its side. She picked up one of the serrated carving knives but when she couldn't put it into the pumpkin and she growled in frustration, Yasha came over with a gentle smile.
“Can I help?” Yasha asked.
Mika tried to get the knife into the pumpkin again but when the knife began to bend with pressure she sighed and pulled her hand away. “Yeah,” she said dejectedly.
Yasha gently ran her hand over her daughter’s hair in a soothing gesture. “It’s okay to ask for help,” Yasha said softly.
Mika looked up at her mother and with a look very reminiscent of Beau, asked, “Mama will you help me?”
Yasha smiled and dropped a kiss on top of Mika’s head. “Of course I will.” She pulled a chair over closer to Mika’s and sat down. She picked up the knife and began to cut into the pumpkin. Yasha didn’t cut the top off entirely, instead just cutting it enough to allow Mika to do the rest on her own.
“Thanks, Mama,” Mika said, her enthusiasm back in force once Yasha returned to her the knife. Yasha smiled and dropped a kiss on Mika’s temple, the child barely noticing her mother’s affection.
As Yasha helped Mika, Beau turned toward their son. “Need any help?”
Finn hummed as he looked at the top of his pumpkin, inspecting it. He glanced over when Mika’s knife began to bend then looked to Beau. “Yeah, prolly best.” He picked up the carving knife and turned it so the handle was pointing at Beau. “Please?”
Beau smiled and stood from her chair. She cut the top off the pumpkin and once the top was off, Finn grabbed the gourd and shoved his hands inside with a wild laugh.
“This is so gross!” he exclaimed, pulling out the pulp and seeds and dropping the slimy mess onto the newspaper.
Yasha looked over and stood from her seat. “Let me grab a bowl,” she said, stepping back into the kitchen proper. “We can save the seeds and roast them later.”
“Good idea, babe,” Beau said when Yasha came back with a bowl. Yasha placed the bowl onto the table, out of the way, and bent down to kiss Beau who tilted her head up to meet her. As their lips brushed, the twins both let out groans of disgust.
“Gross,” Finn said as Mika pulled a face, her nose scrunched and her tongue sticking out.
Beau smiled softly at Yasha who gave a knowing smile back before turning to face her son. “It’s not gross. You’ll like girls one day.”
Finn shook his head. “I will not,” he seemed to promise, pulling out more pumpkin guts.
Beau’s eyebrows raised and she looked back to Yasha who simply smiled and shrugged.
“I won’t like boys either,” Finn added a bit defensively.
Beau smiled and reached over to run her fingers back through his curly hair. “And that is one hundred percent okay,” she assured him.
Finn looked at his parents and his grumpy little face melted into a small smile.
“Is it okay if I don’t like boys either?” Mika asked, her arms buried in her own pumpkin to pull out stringy pulp and seeds.
Yasha smiled and kissed the top of her daughter’s head. “Of course it is.”
“Good cause boys are gross,” said Mika.
“Are not,” Finn grumped.
“Are too,” Mika countered.
The twins squabble for a moment before Beau stood up and clamped her hands across their mouths. “Okay! Enough of th- ack!” Beau yanked her hands away, revealing matching grins on the kids’ faces. “Don't lick people!”
“Don't cover my mouth,” the twins said in unison.
Yasha laughed. “Okay, everyone back to their pumpkins. Try to get as much of the pulp off the seeds before putting them in the bowl please.”
Everyone settled in to carve their pumpkins. While Mika and Finn worked on their simple designs, Beau picked a more complex one from a carving book that came with the carving kits. She settled on a design of an owl sitting on a branch.
After the pumpkin guts had been scraped out and while her family carved their gourds, Yasha took the seeds to the kitchen. She washed them of the pulp and dried them off. After drying them Yasha put them into a clean bowl. She had melted some butter in the microwave while she washed the seeds and now she poured the butter into the bowl with the seeds and mixed it. She took the cinnamon from the spice rack and sprinkled a coating of it over the seeds and butter. After mixing the seeds up again, she poured the seeds onto a cookie sheet, spreading them evenly. Then, after preheating the oven, she placed the cookie sheet inside and set the timer.
Yasha washed and dried her hands then stepped back over to the dining table. “How are we doing over here?”
“Pretty good,” Mika says.
Finn looks at his pumpkin a little sadly. “I accidentally cut one of my eyeballs off.”
Beau stands from her seat and drops a kiss on his head. “We can fix it,” she says as she goes into the kitchen. “We have the technology!”
Yasha watched her wife rustle in their junk drawer for a moment before she found what she was looking for and then came back over. She shook something that gave a faint rattle and Yasha recognized what it was.
“Toothpicks?” Yasha asked.
“Yup,” Beau said cheerfully. She sat next to Finn and turned his pumpkin toward her. She took out a toothpick and picked up the cut off piece of pumpkin. She skewered the piece to one end of the toothpick and then lined up the other end to where it had been cut from and within seconds it was back in its rightful place. “You can still tell it’s been cut but…”
But Finn was smiling and he leaned against Beau’s side. “Thanks, Pops.”
Later, once the pumpkins were done and set outside on the porch and the seeds roasted and eaten, the family began getting ready for the festival. The twins went to their rooms to get their costumes and Beau and Yasha were in their en-suite bathroom doing the same.
Yasha leaned over the bathroom sink in an attempt to be closer to the mirror as she applied her eyeliner. She wore just her panties and bra as she applied her makeup and when she felt Beau press up against her back with soft kisses along her back, she smiled.
“Cricket up yet?” Yasha asked as she moved from one eye to the other.
“Not yet,” Beau answered as she hugged Yasha around her waist. Her hand brushed along a horizontal scar low on Yasha’s belly, just above the waistband of her underwear. “But I can hear him fussing a bit so he’ll be up soon.”
Yasha hummed and set her makeup down. She turned in Beau’s arms and smiled down at her and draped her arms over Beau’s shoulders. She took in her wife’s appearance. She was dressed in a footballer’s uniform. The jersey was dark gray with black and white accents. A large logo of a moorbounder emblazoned the front of it. Her light gray pants cuffed just below her knees and her high socks matched. Black sneakers completed the outfit.
“You look good,” Yasha remarked. “I bet you would have been a great football player.”
Beau scoffed and released Yasha. “My dad would have had a damn fit.” She gave Yasha a smirk. “Could you just imagine?”
Yasha laughed and nodded. “I can, actually. But you still look good.”
Beau’s chest puffed up and she smiled. “I always look good.” Yasha rolled her eyes but smiled.
A small gurgled cry came from their room and they turned toward the noise before facing each other. “Can you dress Cricket while I finish getting ready?” Yasha asked.
Beau smiled before leaning up and kissing Yasha. “‘Course,” she said before dipping out of the bathroom. A moment later Yasha heard Beau cry out, “ What , dude? You’re so needy,” that was followed by a high pitched squeal of laughter from their infant son.
Yasha laughed and shook her head. She quickly dressed, pulling on a pair of black short shorts, followed by a pleated dark gray shirt skirt with black and white stripes along the edge. She then pulled on a matching tank top that had the same moorbounder image as Beau’s uniform, with the word ‘Xhorhas’ in blocky letters above the animal.
Yasha applied a little more makeup, some smudged black on her lids and black lipstick on her lips, before moving into the bedroom, a grin spreading across her face when she saw Cricket on hers and Beau’s bed, fighting Beau as she tried to put him in a onesie.
“Having trouble?” Yasha asked with a laugh. She sat on the edge of the bed and picked up her knee socks and slipped them on before putting on and lacing up her sneakers.
“Cricket woke up and chose violence,” Beau answered flatly.
The half-orc in question giggled up at Beau and kept trying to turn onto his belly and crawl away. Beau would let him flip over and get away just to grab his foot and tug him gently back and flip him back over. Cricket would laugh and try to roll over again.
“ Noooo,” Yasha said sarcastically. “Not my baby boy.” Yasha leaned back on the bed and propped herself up on her elbow. She reached over with her other hand and tickled Cricket’s belly, causing him to laugh and kick happily as he reached for Yasha. “You wouldn’t do that, would you? Of course not, not my little one.” Yasha continued to tickle him and giggled as he laughed more. “So cute, I’m gonna eat you up.”
Beau gave Yasha a flat look. “Please wait til I finish dressing him before you eat him.” She was able to snap the buttons on his onesie and got his socks on. She managed to get him into his pants before pulling on his costume, a brown shirt with white stitches and a little skull cap that matched. His slightly pointed ears stuck out and Beau gently grabbed one and gave a playful but soft tug. “I wonder if Fjord was this bratty when he was a baby?”
Yasha laughed and nuzzled Cricket’s belly before pulling away. She dangled her fingers in front of him and he playfully grabbed at them. “Cricket isn’t bratty,” Yasha said. She gave Beau a playful side glare. “You, on the other hand.”
Beau glared at her wife and made a big show of pulling her leg back just to lightly tap Yasha’s leg with the tip of her shoe. “Shut up.”
Yasha laughed and stood from the bed before picking up Cricket. “Are you done dressing?”
“Just need to add the black stripes under my eyes,” Beau replied.
Yasha nodded and gently bounced Cricket in her arms. “I’m going to check on the twins to see if they’re ready.”
Beau nodded with a smile. “Got it babe. Cricket’s baby bag is all ready. I’ll grab it when I’m done.”
“Thank you baby,” Yasha said. She bent down to kiss Beau but Cricket’s little fist got between them, causing them to laugh and pull back.
“Mama’s boy,” Beau said, eyes narrowing at the child who gave her a grumpy look in return. Cricket gurgled and leaned against Yasha, his little arms circling around her neck possessively.
Yasha smirked and turned to quickly press a kiss to Beau’s cheek where Cricket wouldn’t intervene. “Meet you downstairs.”
It was late afternoon by the time they reached the festival and parked. The twins scrambled out of the backseat while Yasha and Beau took their time, laughing at their children’s enthusiasm.
“Stay close while we get your brother settled,” Beau said as she opened the trunk and pulled out the stroller. She opened it and locked it in place before taking out the baby bag and a blanket and stowed them beneath the seat of the stroller. And while the weather was still slightly warm, come nightfall the temperature would drop so she also stowed two black and white letterman jackets for her and Yasha. The twins’s costumes were thick enough to keep them warm in the approaching chilly air.
Finn and Mika hovered around the car, close to their parents, as Yasha took Cricket from his car seat. His brown eyes were bright in the afternoon light and he smiled around his pacifier as she cradled him close and shut the car door with her hip.
“You got him?” Beau asked.
“I’ve got him,” Yasha said with a smile directed at her son. Then she looked at the twins. “Are you ready for candy?”
“Yeah!” the twins yelled out in unison. They were also dressed up, Mika dressed as a lion with a shaggy mane that covered her white hair and a cat nose and whiskers painted on her face. Finn was dressed as a T-Rex, his face sticking out of its open maw, his curly hair sticking out a bit around his face. They both held plastic pumpkins for candy, Mika’s being blue and Finn’s purple.
Beau and Yasha smiled at them. Yasha offered her empty hand and Mika quickly took it and began to tug her mother towards the gate. Beau laughed and looked at Finn who smiled up at her and reached out to take hold of the stroller and together they all headed inside the festival proper.
The Harvest Close festival was an annual end of season event celebrating the end of summer and welcoming the fall. There were stalls for food and clothes and wares. There were games and a music stage and, in the last century or so, carnival rides. Some of the booths had free candy for kids that came in costumes and that’s where the family of five were headed to first.
The trick or treat booths took up a small area. It was mostly fenced off, only one way in and out, so parents could stand at the entrance while their kiddos ran from stall to spooky stall for treats. But some of these booths also sold small seasonal items, like knick knacks, toys, or even seeds.
The twins took off immediately after entering the area, running to the nearest stall and holding up their buckets for candy. Yasha and Beau laughed as they followed their eldest children although at a much slower pace. They walked around the booths, set up in a semi circle, and bought a few things from a few of them; Yasha, a few seed packets for winter flowers she didn’t yet have in their garden back home; and Beau bought a nice pen set made of wood. Though he was still small for most of the candy being handed out, Cricket was given a few pieces that Beau ate. But Yasha bought him a small black cat plushie with bright green eyes and a small witch’s hat on its head and Cricket instantly latched onto it, letting go of Yasha’s neck to hold it instead.
It took nearly an hour but the family finally met up at the entrance once again.
“Get a lot of candy?” Beau asked.
“Yeah!” Mika exclaimed as Finn yelled, “So much!” They both held up their buckets and, indeed, they were nearly overflowing with sugary delights.
“You two got a nice haul there,” Beau said, sounding impressed. Her eyes flicked back up to her children’s faces and she smirked. “You’re gonna share with me, right?”
They both slowly pulled their buckets to their chests, holding their candy safe from Beau and her near insatiable sweet tooth.
Yasha laughed and gently nudged her wife. “Stop scaring the kids, please,” she gently scolded Beau. Then she turned towards the twins. “You can put your buckets under the stroller. I promise PopPop won’t eat any of it.” She glared at her wife playfully. “Right, baby?”
Before Beau could answer, a child dashed past them, dressed as a fighter in green with a sword strapped to their back. A moment later a woman dressed in pink with opalescent hair dashed past them, yelling, “Nancy? Nancy! You get back here this instant!”
They all watched as the child and mother disappeared in the crowd and then Mika turned toward her parents and said, “Be grateful, we could be like Nancy.”
Beau and Yasha laughed, with Beau reaching over, pushing the hood off her daughter’s head in order to ruffle her hair. “You’d come back eventually. You’d get hungry.”
Mika growled and snapped her teeth at Beau’s hand which caused Beau to laugh harder. “Heathen,” she remarked, helping as the twins put their buckets next to the baby bag, the blanket, and jackets. “How about we go play some games?” she asked, which the twins whooped loudly in excitement.
The first game they played was The Mouse Game. It consisted of a spinning wheel laid flat and a live mouse. The wheel had painted wedges in random colors and holes at the widest part. As the wheel spun the mouse would scamper into one of the holes. The stall around the wheel had random painted squares and a player would place a copper piece on a color. They would win a ticket if the mouse jumped down their deleted color on the spinning wheel.
It was a nostalgic game for Beau, who had mentioned once it was her grandmother's favorite carnival game and she had gotten plenty of stuffed animals from her because her grandmother would play the game for hours.
So of course Beau lost more than she won. But that was okay. Together they were able to win enough tickets for the twins to get a small dragon plush each.
The next game was simple one, a ring toss. The twins paid for their rings and stepped up to the edge of the booth. The various bottles in the middle of the booth were filled with colorful sand to hold them in place as kids tossed their rings at them.
Finn tossed his rings first, grumbling a bit when they all bounced off the bottle necks. He stuck his tongue out at Mika when she laughed.
Mika didn’t fair much better on her turn. Her first two rings bounced and landed behind the table. Her third ring caught on a bottle and she whooped when it did. However the hoop spun and flung itself off the bottle and landed on the floor.
“ Fuck!” Mika cried out angrily.
“Excuse me?” Beau said, moving close to her daughter. Her eyebrow was raised as she waited for a response from her child.
Finn clapped his hands over his mouth, trying to hold in his giggles as his sister began to sputter.
“Um. Uh. F-fudge?” Mika said meekly.
Beau glared at her for a long moment then pulled away. “Uh huh.”
They moved on and the next game was the traditional game of knocking the pyramid of milk bottles over. Beau was the best at the game, knocking her pyramids over each time. The twins got close a few times but only Mika was able to knock them over and only once. Yasha, after settling Cricket into his stroller, tried her hand as well. She had the strength but not the precision and missed all her throws.
With all of Beau’s wins, they traded their tickets in for a standard sized teddy bear wearing armor. They gave the bear to Cricket who smiled brightly up at Beau.
They played a few more games and won a few more cheap prizes, three of which were blowup hammers that squeaked when you hit something. Beau and the twins all looked at one another before an all out war happened, chasing one another and bopping one another with their hammers. Yasha tried to reign in her chaotic spouse and children but when it became apparent it was a losing battle, she walked away and claimed not to know them. They eventually caught up to her, red faced, sweaty, and laughing.
“Momma,” Finn said, causing Yasha’s eyes to move to him. “I’m hungry.”
“Me, too,” Mika chimed in.
“Same,” Beau said as well.
A gurgling from the stroller caught Yasha’s attention and Yasha laughed as Cricket seemed to be of the same mind that food should be the next thing on their to-do list.
“Let’s get some food then,” she said with a smile.
They visited a few of the food stalls to pick out what they wanted. The twins got foot-long corn dogs, Beau got a turkey leg, and Yasha got a tenderloin sandwich.
Seating was sparse, at least for a group their size, so the family made their way over to the free stage where musicians were performing. Beau took out the blanket that was stowed beneath the stroller and unfolded it over the grass. Everyone took a seat and began to eat their chosen meals. Beau took out a few bottles of water from the baby bag and passed them around to everyone while Yasha, after having gotten baby food from the bag before Beau took it, began to feed Cricket between bites of her own.
After eating, the family of five continued to rest on the grass, listening to the music and talking amongst themselves. Cricket crawled around his parents and siblings, them all doing their best to keep him on the blanket.
They mostly succeed.
Once the sun began to slip behind the horizon, the festival lights began to come to life. The game and food booths lit up with bright, flashing colors and the rides were near blinding as they soared through the air.
“Which one can we ride first?” Mika asked excitedly from her perch on Yasha’s back. After eating the family began to wander around the festival and checked out a few of the shopping stalls. The twins spent their pocket money they had saved from allowances and bought a few necklaces and t-shirts. Yasha had bought a few more charms for her hair, and Beau bought a land shark tooth necklace.
“Not the Octo,” Finn chimed in. He stood beside Beau, who had Cricket strapped to her chest in a sling and had nodded off as his other mother tired him around. “You got sick on it last year.”
“I’ll be fine,” Mika insisted. She looked between Beau and Yasha. “Please can I ride it?”
Beau and Yasha looked at one another and seemed to be in agreement. “Let me go get the tickets,” Beau said. She gently nudged Finn towards Yasha and walked over to the nearest ticket booth.
Several minutes later found Yasha wedged between two of her children as the ride attendant locked them into the seat. Yasha held each of her children’s hands and soon the ride was moving, spinning them around and around as it moved up and down in the air.
They were all dizzy by the time the ride stopped.
Laughing, they stumbled their way back over to Beau who was cradling a more awake Cricket in the sling.
“Have fun?” Beau asked with a chuckle.
“Yes!” the twins exclaimed together.
The next ride was the bumper cars. Yasha took Cricket while Beau took the twins for this one. It became an all out war to see who could hit each other the most and it dragged out for several rounds, Beau and the kids riding the cars several times in succession. In the end, Yasha wasn’t sure who won and, honestly, the warriors themselves seemed confused about it too. But they had fun and in the end that was all that mattered.
After the bumper cars came the carousel. Mika and Finn climbed up onto a dragon and grffiin respectfully and, behind them, Beau jumped up on a blinkdog. Yasha stood beside her on the platform and held Cricket up on a badger. His little hands held onto the pole but he didn’t have nearly the strength to hold himself up so Yasha’s hands held him around his waist.
As the carousel moved, the other children and parents on the ride began to cheer. The music was a little too loud but everyone seemed to enjoy it and Cricket himself cried out happily as the ride spun around.
Yasha felt a nudge at her hip and she turned, seeing Beau smiling widely down at her from her perch on the blinkdog before leaving over towards her. Yasha smiled and, careful of her grip on Cricket, leaned back towards Beau. Their lips brushed in a soft kiss and they both pulled apart when they heard gagging noises in front of them.
“Gross!” Finn cried out as Mika said, “Stop embarrassing us in public!”
Both Beau and Yasha laughed and, undeterred by their children’s antics, kissed each other again.
They rode several more rides after that, Yasha and Beau taking turns to ride with their children. When they had enough tickets for one ride each, they all settled on the Ferris wheel.
There was enough room for all five of them on the bench, with the children sitting between Beau and Yasha. The ride was slow and steady and as they approached the top, Mika hid her face in Beau’s side and clutched at her letterman’s jacket.
“What’s wrong, Mika?” Beau asked, dropping her arm around her daughter.
“It’s too high,” she answered with panic in her voice. “I wanna get off!”
“It was your idea to ride it,” Finn said.
Beau looked up at Yasha who had a sympathetic look on her face as she held Cricket close to her, the little half-orc barely able to see over the lap bar.
“It’s too late for that, kiddo,” Beau said softly as she ran her hand along her daughter's back in a soothing gesture. “But it’s almost over and we’ll be off soon.”
Mika curled into Beau’s side more, shaking a bit. Beau’s arm tightened around her and held her close and when the ride finished Mika was the first to scramble off the seat.
With their tickets gone and the kids beginning to wind down, Beau and Yasha decided it was time to head home. On their way out, they stopped off and bought elephant ears and munched on the sugary goodness as they made their way back to the car.
Beau pulled the car into the garage and hit the clicker to shut the door. All three kids had fallen asleep on the ride home and their parents turned to smile at them before smiling at each other. They got out of the car and began the arduous task of waking their eldest children.
Mika woke with a groan but Finn just huffed and turned away so Yasha had to carry him upstairs. Beau took Cricket from his car seat and the half-orc nuzzled his face against Beau’s shoulder, still holding the little black cat plush his parents bought him.
Beau and Yasha split up once they were upstairs. Yasha took Finn to his room and got him out of his costume and the clothes underneath and into his pajamas. She kissed his head and told him goodnight and that she loved him before going to Mika’s room, who was already changed and waiting to be tucked in. Her purple eyes were drooping when Yasha kissed her goodnight and she was asleep when Yasha said she loved her. With a fond smile, Yasha turned out the light.
She passed Beau in the hall, going to the twins’ bedrooms to kiss them goodnight herself. Yasha saw Cricket was tucked into his crib, a pacifier in his mouth and the black cat plush tucked beside him. She ran her fingers through his brown hair before going to the bathroom to undress and remove her makeup.
She was brushing her teeth when Beau walked in, tugging her jersey off over her head. No words were spoken as they went through their nightly routine. Yasha, having finished first, turned and kissed Beau’s temple while she brushed her own teeth. Beau smiled around her toothbrush and lightly tapped Yasha’s hip with her hand as Yasha moved back into the bedroom.
Yasha sat on the edge of the bed with a sigh, feeling the day’s events weighing her down with exhaustion. She closed her eyes and listened to the creaking of her home as the wind rustled outside. She felt Beau beside her before her wife touched her, gently pulling her hair over her shoulder.
“Tired?” Beau asked softly.
Yasha hummed and nuzzled into Beau’s hand when it moved to cup her face. Then, “But a good tired.”
Beau huffed a small laugh and bent to press her lips against Yasha’s. Yasha hummed again, her hands moving to Beau’s hips to pull her closer.
Their kiss became deeper and Beau climbed into Yasha’s lap, her arms moving to drape over Yasha’s shoulders. Yasha pulled her closer and fell back against the mattress, sighing when Beau’s weight settled over her. Then Beau shifted, her hand sneaking beneath Yasha’s shirt and caressing along Yasha’s ribs as Beau’s knee hit the mattress beside her.
The mattress gave a squeak of protest and both women froze, lips still pressed together and breaths held. A moment later they heard it, a shuffle from the crib. And then a displeased grunt followed by a soft cry.
They laughed softly and Beau quickly pulled away. “I’ll get him. You get settled.”
Yasha smiled and moved to lay in the bed properly as Beau walked over to the crib and her fussing son inside of it.
“Hey, Cricket,” Beau said softly. “What’s wrong, buddy?” She gently ran her hand along his belly and his side, helping him to settle. She noticed his pacifier had fallen out of his mouth and he had kicked his newest toy away. So Beau popped the binkie back into his mouth and pulled the plushie back against him. She cooed at him softly, running her hand along his side, and within minutes he had settled back down and was asleep once more.
With a lingering smile at her infant son, Beau turned back towards her wife, hoping to pick up where they had left off.
Yasha was curled up on her side, her breathing deep, even, and slow. She was asleep.
Beau’s smile grew as she shut off the bedside table near Yasha and moved to the other side of the bed. She crawled into the bed beside Yasha and tucked the blanket up over them. Yasha moved closer to her and curled up into Beau’s side, her strong arm wrapped around Beau’s lithe waist and tugging her close. She settled her head onto Beau’s chest and Beau dropped a kiss atop Yasha’s white hair.
Beau settled into the mattress with the warm weight of her wife beside her. She closed her eyes and focused on Yasha’s breathing, her soft snores, and within moments joined her in sleep.
Let the years we're here be kind, be kind
Let our hearts, like doors, open wide, open wide
Settle our bones like wood over time, over time
Give us bread, give us salt, give us wine
-“North,” Sleeping at Last