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[goldenfirefly.livejournal.com]

Who: Senel and Stella Coolidge
What: Stella returns home, along with a new arrival.
When: Tonight, July 2nd
Where: House #32 - The Coolidge Residence
Summary: Same as what, but... Stella has returned from her kidnapping, but she's not alone in her return. The baby has arrived!
Rating: G
Everything ached, far too much for her to even care. The past few days made darkness and pain her world. She couldn't expect that to change.

Her memory swirled, distorted by her body's cries for rest, but the shock kept the images sharp. The terror of being dragged from her home had all too quickly preceded the pangs of labor. They expected that. Strange lights and needles and alien voices and shapes soon drifted around her as she lay, completely vulnerable and terrified on an examining table. There were no painkillers, no blankets, no warm and calloused hand to grip tightly as panic propelled her through the birth of her first child. Hours became an eternity, but she could say with perfect certainty that she meant every last word she screamed.

Then the baby began to cry, and the exhaustion and fear melted away. She struggled to sit up, to soothe it and kiss away the tears, but strong limbs kept her pinned. Her own cries began to drown out the baby's as it was carried out of the room. She screamed, tugging frantically at the restraints, but all she could see was the back of a shadowy figure before a needle pierced her neck and she fell blissfully unconscious.

It was dark, very dark, and cold, and—warm? There was a hand on her face, a warm, calloused, familiar human hand.

"Stella... Stella, wake up, please... Stella!"

The desperate tone jolted her awake. She had promised never to make him live through that again. She opened her eyes.

Senel's frantic dark blue ones peered down at her, his thumb gently caressing her cheekbone. There was fear in his eyes, the same fear she'd see when he awoke from nightmares—but just as quickly as it did then, the emotion faded away to a calmer worry.

"You're back," he said after a pause, as though words were failing him.

"I'm back," she repeated, too tired to come up with her own words. But she smiled and he looked like she had just given him the world. And he returned it a moment later, pulling her into a gentle, desperate kiss.

Stella wrapped her arms loosely around his waist and waited for them to need air. "I love you."

"I love you too—" It had taken him this long to realize that he was practically lying on top of her and there was something that should have been preventing that. "Stella, where's the baby?!"

"The—" Stella's face twisted with horror. "The Malnosso, they took—"

Before Senel's heart could sink, the sound of a crying baby echoed through the house.

Both parents jumped—or tried to. Senel more rolled awkwardly off to the side and Stella only made it a few inches before exhaustion pulled her back down to the bed. "Where?" Stella said, sounding desperate. The baby continued to cry.

"The nursery," Senel said immediately, and scrambled to his feet. He practically tripped over himself pushing through the newly constructed door in the far wall.

The room was newly painted in soft pastel blue with white trimming, peepit chick printed curtains (which Stella had made) on the window. The crib, last relic of Moses' brief stay here, was also painted white and blue, outfitted with blankets, toys, and one crying baby.

Senel froze. There was a baby. Here. Now. His baby. ...And it was crying. Fatherly instincts kicked in and he was at the crib in an instant, reaching in hesitantly to touch the child. They hadn't put her in one of the outfits he'd made, instead in a generic white smock that looked similar to what all Luceti inhabitants arrived in, but Senel didn't really care about that at the moment. His baby was crying and he had to help.

Fortunately, as soon as he touched the head it quieted down, giving Senel more time to stare. The hair was white. He'd hoped for blonde, before, but somehow white was now the most beautiful color it could possibly have been. The skin tone was Ferines-light though (although somewhat reddened and wrinkled because it was a newborn) and the eyes—they were Stella's eyes, light blue and crystal clear. The baby stared up at him and he stared back, with absolutely no idea what to do next.

Then he remembered he should probably be getting back to Stella before she panicked. And she deserved to see this, hers--their baby, more perfect than he'd ever imagined. Reaching both arms into the cradle, he hesitantly, carefully picked the baby up and held it close. It continued to stare up at him with Stella's eyes, quiet now and probably pleased to have human attention.

Stella was just attempting to get up out of bed again when Senel reentered the room, carrying a bundle in his arms. She froze. "That's..."

He smiled at her, carrying the bundle closer. "Yes. This is our..."

He stopped.

"Um. I actually haven't checked yet."

Stella sighed. "Hand the baby here, Senel." He did so, and she swiftly looked beneath the smock. "Daughter. We have a daughter."

"So then... Sophie?" Senel said, taking a seat on the bed beside her as Stella cradled the girl and beamed down at her.

"Sophie Coolidge," said Stella. "...She's beautiful, Senel. Just like you."

"I'm not 'beautiful,'" he replied. "She gets all her looks from you."

Stella laughed, and just leaned against him, still supporting the baby. "...I'm so happy."

He kissed her on the cheek. "Me too, Stella. Thank you."

Informing the village could wait for tomorrow as they began learning how to care for an infant. But for today... the new family rested together, the Malnosso and everything forgotten in these first few quiet moments.

[[This was written entirely by Senel-mun, so give her some love. ♥]]