Anything You Say Will Only Fuel My Lungs

It still wasnt fair that she was gone. Raine tried her best to seem like she was okay, like her sister being gone didn't affect her that much. But the redness in her eyes gave her away, it was clear to anyone that she had cried. It was something she did often now, she couldn't just forget that her sister was gone and that she would never come back. She tried everything she could to keep herself busy and keep her thoughts off of anything unpleasant, which seemed like that was all her mind had now. Unpleasant thoughts.

She walked along a shelf, looking at the inventory that was on it. She carried a clipboard in her hans that she wrote numbers and notes down on, as she took a quick inventory of what was in the shop. She passed a case of rings and one caught her eye. She stopped in her tracks and focused on the ring. It had a red stone in it, darker than a ruby, and she noticed how much it resembled the color of blood.

She couldn't help but wonder if Alexis would like the ring. The girl had always liked jewelry, so it was very likely that she would have. Raine sighed softly, looking sadly at the ring. She missed her sister, a lot. And the worst part was that she couldn't hide it and she hadn't been able to get any sort of revenge on the person who killed her.

Lorcan was usually at Slugs and Jiggers but he had merchandise arriving here today that he needed to take personal charge of. He had arrived early, grateful to get out of the mansion for the moment. The new baby, Xavier, had been irritable all night. The baby had Zada's blond hair and Lorcan's dark eyes and deep features. He also had the tendency of both of his parents to develop early. He was just over 4 months old and was just starting to get a swollen puffy gum where his first tooth would no doubt soon come in.

Zada was not exactly the most maternal woman Lorcan had ever know. She was a good consort for him, though, so as much as he hadn't ever truly embraced fatherhood, unless he could find competent staff, he did have to, periodically step up. It had been awkward at first, but the boy did seem to be bonding--or at least that was what Lorcan supposed it was--to him. Lorcan didn't really know what baby bonding looked like. He hadn't needed to experience it before now, odd as that would sound to some other man in love with fatherhood. Lorcan preferred taller, verbal children. He understood them better. He didn't understand babies. Hadn't wanted to.

He had a miserable headache and felt like the bones in his spinal column were still clanging together from the whiny shriek that had come out of the nursery by the hour all night. Lorcan had dressed in a rare quiet moment and had zipped out of the mansion, leaving Zada no choice but to step up.

Or so he thought. He heard someone in the front of the shop and was about to look to see who it was when he heard a crack of someone apparating in. And then it began again. The high pitched drone of a wailing baby. He whirled around to see his house elf standing in the front of the shop, with a blanketed bundle--his screaming son. He could tell by the shellshocked look on his house elf's face that Zada had threatened the life out of the elf if he didn't deliver the baby to Lorcan in about a nanosecond.

He sighed, rolling his eyes. He started towards the front of the shop and then saw who had been there ahead of the elf. Raine. That made him smile through his fatigue and pounding headache. She was a sight for sore eyes. Then, a second, more selfish thought entered his head. Did she like babies?

The Slytherin girl had been aware of the merchandise that was supposed to be arriving at the shop that day, it was the reason she had been there so early. She was sure her father wasn't aware of the fact that she had left the mansion even earlier than he had. She hadn't known that he would show up at the shop either. He was usually caught up with matters that involved the apothecary, so she tended to do things for him around Borgin and Burkes, though he was still in charge of everything else.

She hadn't noticed the arrival of her father until she heard the wails of a baby. Her little brother she assumed. But she didn't think Lorcan would bring him to the shop, or anywhere unless.. Zada must have dropped him on her father. She wasn't exactly mom mterial, anyone could see that. Raine sighed and turned around, "Hi Daddy." she greeted him, running up to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Hi Xavier." she kneeled down slightly to greet the baby that was in the house elf's arms. "Give him." she muttered, taking the baby from the elf and starting to rock him to try to get him to stop crying. "There, there.. Shh. You're alright Xavier, you're here with Daddy and your older sister. Don't cry." she cooed softly, moving the blanket to kiss the baby's forehead.