Copycats and Medical Miracles...

“Aunt Lil’,” Ziva called, her hand covering Cooper’s head where he slept strapped to her chest. “You here?”

“Raawwtlll” 

Ziva smiled and looked back at River, strapped in a front facing hold on Nick’s chest, trying to copy her words.  Her little peach was so alpha already.  She faced the world with a determination she got from both her parents and the eyes that could only have come from the daddy whose thumbs she was currently holding.

“In here, Ziva dear.”

The wispy sound of her aunt’s voice pulled her away from the smiles of her mate and child, concern for Liliya making a place in her chest.  She loved her aunt and couldn’t imagine life without her.  Aunt Lil’ had made life tolerable for Ziva during the years she’d had to assume the alpha position in her family.

Moving through the house her mother and aunt shared to the solarium in back, Ziva noticed how dark and unkempt the place had become.  That was so not like Lil’.  Her mother, now that she could see.

“Lil’, are you okay?” She asked the lump of a woman bundled into a blanket in the comphy double chair that looked out into the forest.

“No, Ziva my sweet, my time has come, “  Liliya whispered, acting like the old lady she wasn’t.  “I love you, dear.  Remember me fondly.”

“Lil’, I’m pretty sure it’s not your time.”

“No, it’s true, I’m bound for wherever shifters go to be recycled for the next life.”

“Aunt Lil’, I was with you just last week when Doc Leo did your annual physical.  Remember, he said you were as healthy as one of the oxen brothers.”

Liliya threw off her blanket and sat up straight.  “Oh, what does he know anyway?”

“Well, he’s a vet and shifter doctor, I assume he knows quite a bit.”

“Pish, I’ve got the arthritis.  A really bad case.”

“Shifters don’t get arthritis, Lil’.  All that changing shape keeps the joints fresh and young.”

“Well then, I’m a frigging medical miracle ‘cause I’ve got the arthritis.”

Ziva shot Nick, who was trying really hard not to laugh at the surly lady on the chair, a help me look.

“Say, Ms. Liliya, It’s been a while since Peter’s stop by the gazette with pictures to sell, have you been keeping he busy?”  Nick teased.

“No.  Good riddance too little peewee rubbish with that one, and when I say little, I really mean itty bitty…candy corn size if you know what I mean…”

“Stop!” Nick moaned. His theatrics were enough to earn him a share of the award Ziva had been ready to give her aunt.  “Z, cover Coop’s ears…please.  Men don’t need or want to know about the size of another man’s junk!”  

“Really, babe, he’s sound asleep.” Ziva laughed, then looked back at her aunt.  “What happened, Liliya?”

“That bugger decided to go sniffing after some human who works at a fast food place down off the highway.  A human!”

“Rauggr…”

“River, my sweetling and Cooper baby.”  Liliya got up out of the chair and crooned at the bundles she and Nick where holding.

“Lil’?”

“You know, now that I think about it, let that human have him, he deserves the ridicule he’s gonna get for his little peewee.”

“Reeree…AH!”  River shouted, making Nick cringe.

“Great…that one was actually close to sounding correct.”  Nick groaned.

Ziva smirked at Nick’s dismay and decided there would be plenty of time later to tell Nick that the AH at the end of Rivers new word was really her attempt at the word DAH. 

~~~

Have a great weekend, y'all and keep warm!

Serena

A Bonding Moment

Reetha took the steps two at a time and threw open the front door to Nick and Ziva’s house, ready to kill anything threatening her niece and nephew.  Mooney’s call for help still fresh enough in her head that she was fighting off the urge to shift.

“Holy Lupa, Reeth,” Mooney yelped, tucking a whimpering Cooper close to his chest. “Are you trying to scare the pups?”

“Where’s the problem?  How many are there?”

“What?  Reetha, what are you talking about?”

“The reason you called?”  She bit out, willing her wildly beating heart to calm enough so her hearing sharpened that much further. “You were whispering that you were with the babies and needed help.”

“Well, I do, just, it’s not…exactly what you must be thinking.”  Mooney stammered, blushing along the roots of his hairline.

“So there’s no danger in the vicinity?”

“Only you.”

Reetha turned her head, stretching and cracking the tension out before taking and holding her breath.

“Are you going to breathe again anytime soon?” her brother asked.  “Because I still do have that problem.”

She let out the calming breath and prayed to the great Lupa that she wouldn’t beat the crap out of her brother in front of the two sets of blue-green eyes watching her every move.  “What is the problem, Mooney?”

“River has a poopy diaper.”

A stripe of pick crossed her vision at her brother’s words.  “Please tell me you didn’t scare the hel, er, heck out of me because of a poopy diaper.”

“Well, I didn’t know what to do?”

Mooney at least had the decency to look embarrassed, but Reetha was still trying to process the idea that her brother – who had two children already – didn’t know what to do with a poopy diaper.  “You change it, Moon.  How in Lupa’s name did Thor and Loki survive their babyhood?”

“Well no shit, er, shilo, Reeth.  Of course you change them.  And I did that for Cooper.  I also did a lot of that with my boys, but that’s the thing, they’re boys.”

“And? Do girl babies not poop the same as boy babies?  Are you afraid there will be flowers in the diaper or something?”

“No.  It just didn’t feel right for me to be, you know, changing her diaper.  You know, never mind,” he said, while setting Coop back in the mounded up pillow area they used for play time.  “I’ll figure this out on my own.”

Mooney’s face was bright red and the look in his eyes was pure disgust—at himself.  Reetha was surprised to see how much he’d grown up over the time she’d been gone and wondered if she should be handling the situation in a different way?

“Wait.”  She put her hand on Mooney’s arm and bent to grab little River herself.  “Let’s do this together.  Is this the first time you’ve been around a girl baby as an adult?”

“Yeah, they are way different little creatures than boys.  Boy babies tend to always be in motion, kicking and moving around.  But she’s so thoughtful.  She looks at me like she’s trying to figure me out and to see if I’m doing things right or wrong.”

Reetha set River on the changing pad and Mooney grabbed the new diaper and cleaning supplies. “I can see what you mean about how thoughtful she is.  The way she’s staring can be confusing, but think back to Loki.  Didn’t he do the same thing sometimes?”

Mooney quietly watched as she stripped the used diaper from River’s tush and cleaned her up before putting on a clean one.

“Yeah, I guess sometimes he did do the same thing.”

“It’s an alpha thing, Moon.  She, like Loki, is figuring out her place here.  It starts early in shifters.  Beta babies tend to be more like regular babies, though they too are smart as a lick and advance faster, they are a bit more playful then their alpha counterparts.  That’s why it’s so important to keep the alpha babies with the beta babies and encourage silly playtime.  The alpha’s will be sliding into their roles soon enough.”

Moon leaned over and surprised her with a hug. “Thanks Reeth, for not laughing or beating me up.  Thanks for helping me.”

Reetha hugged her brother back, thankful she was getting another chance to be a part of this family.  “You’re welcome.”

“Now, give me that dirty diaper and you kiddo,” he said to the very aware River, “Next time, you and Uncle Moon are going to figure this out.  Sound good.”

River coo’d, giggled and let loose with a not quite growl at her Uncle Moon and Reetha knew they’d definitely figure out the changing thing.

“Mooney, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, shoot.”

“How did you come to be here today?  I thought Elly was coming over?”

“She was, but something happened with one of her hard-headed kids and she couldn’t come.  Pop went with her and I suspect you were busy as well.  Sorry if I pulled you away from something important.  I know I was their last pick, but I don’t mind.  I do like spending time with these two.  Plus, Coop needs another beta around here for a bit.”

“Yeah,” she laughed, “I can see where he would need a break.”

“Besides, Ziva’s working in the back room in case of emergencies.”

“And yet you called me?”

“Yeah, Ziva’s last words to me before burying herself in work were, ‘there are only two reasons to bother me today, boobs or blood.  They just ate and there had better not be blood.  If there’s blood I will emasculate you, and I’m not speaking figuratively here.’”

Reetha laughed, but gave Moon a sympathetic look.  “She takes her pups very seriously.”

“As she should.  I know poops not blood, but since I’d really like to keep the goods where they belong, the safe bet was to call you.”

Reetha laughed.  “Good call, Moon.”
~~~

Have a wonderful weekend, y'all!

Serena

Who Said They Couldn't Agree...

Penny pushed the door open and stepped into Nick’s office. “Whoever you are, you better have a really good reason to be in this office…oh, Bossman.”

“Shut the door…shut to door,” he whispered frantically, waving his hands and making Penny smirk.

“What’s going on…why the whispers?”

Nick looked to the side, then smiled and leaned over.  He fussed with something that softly clanked before sitting up with the sweetest little face she’d seen since a week ago when she’d brought Ziva coffee from Java Joe’s, her work laptop and diapers.

“Ooh, hunny bunches,” she almost squealed, rushing to the desk to take the violet-eyed alpha from her daddy.  “And Coo, too!” she whispered looking across Nick to the still sleeping boy in the stroller.

The little girl looked right at her and grabbed a lock of colorful hair.  “Wow, for one so young she’s doing great at keeping her head up and using those hands.”

“Yeah,” beamed the proud daddy.  “She’s alpha.”

“And shifter.” Penny added.  “It’s a good thing we have a safe town to raise our young in since our babies tend to develop faster at first and appear darn near unbreakable.”

“Thank  Lupa for this town, that’s for sure.”

Penny smiled and tickled the beautiful girl in her arm, warming as the little sweeting smiled up at her.  Yep, faster development than a human baby, that’s for sure.  “So, Bossman…,”
Nick’s grunt as he shuffled more papers into his bag made Penny shake her head.  “Have you and
Ziva named this darling girl yet?  And speaking of Ziva, does she know you have her pups at the office with you?”

Nick stopped what he was doing and looked up.  “No, she doesn’t know…and don’t you be calling her with it.”  He waggled his finger at her.  “She was so tired she finally dropped into a sound sleep.  I thought if I took the twins, elsewhere for a time, she could sleep.  And, yes,” he grinned.  “We have finally named the little princess there.”

The princess in question shook her fist at her daddy and garbled an “ah” sound that Penny figured one day soon would turn into an alpha howl.  She was too excited to know the name they’d finally settled on to scold Nick for his misstep in taking the twins away from their mom without telling her.  Nick was going to learn about the mistake the loud way, when Z couldn’t find her crew.  Penny just hoped Ziva understood that Nick was trying to help.

“So don’t keep me in suspense…what’s little beauty’s name?”

“River Raine McMahon.”  Nick smiled as he said it, making it clear there was a story there.

“River Raine, oh Nick, it’s beautiful…just like her.  How did you guys finally agree?”

Nick sat back and crossed his arms behind his head.  “It’s actually owed in great part to Elly.  While her bone-headed boys don’t thrill me, she has been there for Z and I in so many ways.  My pops a smart guy.  Anyway, Elly and Pop dropped in to see the twins and Z and I were at the growling at each other state.  We hadn’t slept, hadn’t fu…ah,” Nick mumbled and waved a hand in front of him.
“Anyway, moving on.”

“I got it, you hadn’t connected in some time.”  Penny interjected.

“Right, connected.  And Ziva hadn’t shifted and run since early in her pregnancy.”

“She still hadn’t shifted?”

“Yep, which appeared to be the crux of the problem.  She was afraid.  Terrified she would run and never come back.”

“Oh Z.”

“I know, Penny, where could that thought have come from?”

Nick looked defeated and in need of a friend.  Penny knew that at any other time he never would have divulged Ziva’s secrets and as far as Penny was concerned, he still hadn’t.  Some secrets between friends were take it to the grave secrets and this was one of them.  “Nick, all women have fears.  And while I’ve not yet become a mother, I can imagine the fears that come with that gig.  Ziva’s fears are totally normal and the best thing she can do is express them to someone she trusts, explicitly.  Like her mate.”

“Yeah, she did once we returned from running.  I had to force her to shift, but once she had she ran herself to exhaustion.  You know, the funny thing was, she never told Elly what was bothering her, but Elly knew.  She whispered something to Z before we ran that brought tears to my mate’s eyes.”

“Ha, go Elly.  You know, she is also a woman and a mom.  She’d probably had the same fears at one point and was able to reassure Ziva that it would all be okay.”

“Anyway, once we came home, we were better able to discuss name ideas.  We took a step back and assessed what we wanted her name to mean.  We both wanted it to be strong…”

“Oh, River.”  Penny nodded.  “Like the current.”

“Yep, and to also mean refreshing and change since she’s the first ever female alpha in the position to lead.”

“And Raine.” She smiled.  “Oh Nick, I love the symmetry of that, it’s perfect.”

“Thanks.  She sure seems to like it.”  Nick laughed.

Penny turned the baby toward her and smiled.  “Hello there, River Raine McMahon.”  She was treated with another baby “ga” and “ah.”  So when are you going to announce it?

“NICOLAS TAGGERT MCMAHON!  Where are my babies!”  Ziva’s voice carried through the paper’s newsroom and Penny watched Nick grimace. 

“I should have let her know where we were going.”

“Yep, start with that, after you say you’re sorry and you might keep some skin.”

“I’m sorry.  I should have told you I was taking them out.  I was trying to let you rest.”

Penny watched the new mom zero in on her twins before taking a deep breath and then looking at Nick.  “Thank you for looking out for me.  I panicked when I woke and couldn’t find them, but I trust they will always be safe with their daddy.”

Ah, her little birds, Bossman and Z, were growing up.  Becoming parents was the best thing to happen to them and it seemed to Penny as well.  She looked down at little River and swore she would do her part in making sure this girl was loved and supported.
~~~

Oh, well, it might have been me that said Nick and Ziva had agreement issues.  At least I know I yelled that at them the other day when they still had not pulled it together enough to name their daughter.  I may have even threatened them with the "I'm going to make her all a dream" tactic that many a TV show has employed in the past.  Yeah, I was getting fed up, but they finally did good, huh.  At first, they wanted River Song, but that was a blatant rip off so I sent them back to the drawing board.  I like what they came up with though.  Hopefully, they wait awhile before having more and putting their author through this again!


Have a warm and happy weekend!


Serena