"Being here without you is like I'm waking up to only half a blue sky, kinda there but not quite."

Holding tight, as she was expected to do, Mairen gave a bright yet breathy laugh, not-so-secretly pleased with his decision to take charge and move them upstairs. As he settled her onto the mattress, she couldn't help but think of the first time she had been pulled onto his bed and into his arms. This, though, was far more intriguing. Every nerve was on fire, and all she could manage, really, was the occasional, unintelligible mumble. That is, until he literally ripped away her tights. A shocked gasp met the air and she blinked down at him, a strange mix of annoyance and heat sweeping through her.

Anticipation swirled about, low in her stomach, only to break apart and spread through her body in the most frustrating way when Theodore denied her what she so badly wanted. Her breath hitched, the desperation only becoming all the more clear when she let a pathetic sort of whine escape from between her lips. "Yes, Theo," she rasped sarcastically, frowning at him as he reached around her middle instead of... elsewhere. "It's flattering and all, and you're quite sexy yourself," she admitted more gently, surprising herself with the adjective she chose, "but it doesn't really fix the problem at hand."

Impatient, she reached behind her for Theodore's hands, pulling them away from the zip of her dress. Instead of letting him continue - despite her temptation to do just that, Mai pushed her fingers between his and used that hold as leverage to turn the pair of them over. She felt absurdly risqué, when she thought about the layers she had lost, and when she accepted the fact that the edges of her vision were particularly blurry, but the decision-making portion of her brain did not care at all.

Mairen wiggled a little, mentally explaining it to herself as a need to 'get comfortable,' and acted like she hadn't the foggiest what it might do to him now that she had essentially settled atop him. "I think," she informed him, leaning down to speak into Theodore's ear and releasing one of his hands so she could spread her fingers over his chest, "that I'm at a bit of a disadvantage here. Perhaps we should fix that, hmm...?"

The first button was undone before her lips found their way back to his, and if she rolled her hips against his, it most certainly was not intentional. Not one bit. Still, the fingers of her right hand worked to undo the remaining buttons of his shirt so she could delve beneath it and investigate something she had not been able to look at properly - at least, not as well as she would've liked. She finally drew her hand from his, allowing for it, too, to follow the lines of his torso. Mai traced over with kisses afterwards, glancing up at him before she edged down towards his waistband.

"Shall we do away with these, too?" she asked, toying with the belt loops of his trousers.

A flash of satisfaction rippled through Theodore when the chiming sound of her protests broke past her lips and kissed up around his ears. He chuckled against her neck, pressing a handful of kisses in a line across a pale vein thrumming beneath her skin. As her words lifted into the air, Theodore couldn’t help laughing. He lifted his head and wriggled his brows at her, his mouth opening out into a wide smirk.

“Why thank you,” he teased, continuing to fiddle around and ease away the zipper. He wasn’t getting a whole lot of purchase and glanced down absently, licking his lips as he came to regret his decision to wind her up. He was just considering placating her, too, when Theo felt her fingers lace with his and then all of a sudden he was on his back and all sensible thought entirely abandoned him.

A sudden cry leapt from his throat as she wiggled against him and his hands flew to her legs as surprise lit up his face. Theodore felt his breath catch as she closed in on him and he lifted his head a little, his eyes closing. The warmth of her words tickled at his ear and another whimper curled at the back of his throat.

Theodore eagerly met her kiss and he opened his mouth, a guttural groan exiting his chest as her hips rolled against him. He was suddenly acutely aware of the fact that he was entirely overdressed. He wanted out of his clothes all at once and he wanted her skin against his. He was too close but then, still, not close enough and what it was reducing him to was an inarticulate mess.

With his shirt opened, Theodore felt his heart rise and his desire course even faster through him as he realised soon enough they would be even and there would be no disadvantages or advantages. He couldn’t wind her up anymore, he decided. She’d kill him. He just had to love her. Then again… this was the sweetest sort of torture. He felt he could survive it. Actually, he wasn’t sure he wanted to.

Theodore’s hips jerked involuntarily as her mouth tendered south and his eyes reopened as her fingers danced across his belts. He looked at her pleadingly, wiggling up into her hands.

“Woman, you’re going to kill me,” he rasped, smiling despite himself.

Sitting up a bit, Theodore’s hands reached back for her zip and he pulled it down cleanly, a smirk replacing the wonder-filled smile from before. His hands fell back to her legs and he pushed up the skirt, his eyes laying low for a few moments before shooting up to follow the fabric as it revealed acres of skin he was desperate to explore. He rocked the material from side to side, provoking her into lifting her arms and then he whipped it up over her head, tossing it abruptly across the room before eagerly returning his hands to her skin.

“Do away with it all,” he mumbled, leaning up and over to press a kiss to her side underneath her bra. He looked up at her, his fingers reaching to ping open the clasp. He loosed the material from around her and he pulled it away enough to lean in and pepper kisses across the soft swells of skin newly revealed to him. “Merlin, you’re perfect,” he whispered, though this time, it was more of his own little revelation than anything for her to hear but it was loud enough to catch. His wonderment was clear and his adoration plain for her to see.

Despite her best attempts at pretending she wasn't so desperately affected, Mairen failed miserably when he sat forward, her eyes widening and her lips parting in surprise. At his silent request, she sat forward on her knees to keep her balance, lifting her arms. When she brought them down again, her hands drifted to his shoulders to push away his shirt. A moment of questioning whether or not she should have felt so comfortable came and passed in the time it took for Theodore to send away her last layer.

But, truly, she was surprised to find that her nerves had not gotten the best of her. Admittedly, the alcohol had been helping her along. Never had she been so quickly willing to commit to something so intimate. There was just something about Theo, she decided somewhere in the back of her mind. Mai wasn't sure that she understood what exactly that 'something' was, and this was clearly not the time to think about that. Those thoughts would come when she was sober, and not so focused on seemingly more important things. In the morning, perhaps, something would come to light, and she wouldn't feel so... bold or so frantic. Mairen wasn't sure she wanted to have to think about it at all, though, considering she had a pretty solid idea already.

Theodore, as ever, was ridiculously skilled at diverting her attention. He was maddening, really. A pathetic whimper escaped as she arched towards him, one hand instinctively curling around his neck. Heat licked up her neck and into her cheeks when he spoke, and Mai let her chin tip forward so she could rest her forehead on the crown of Theodore's head. "Theo," she whined quietly, "this is spectacularly unfair."

Nudging at him with her nose, Mairen kissed her way across his features and down to his lips once more. At the same time, though, her hand slipped down to his belt, undoing it as quickly as she could manage while so distracted. When it thumped to the floor, Mai grinned into their kisses and pulled back so she could crouch on the floor and help him off with his bottom layers. A cheeky grin pulled at her lips, and she set her hands on his knees so she could push up and steal another kiss.

"Well," she murmured, watching him with a darkened, heavy gaze. Her comment was put on hold as she returned to his lap, and a barely audible moan was pulled from her throat when skin met skin again. When she spoke again, her words were breathy and uttered against his shoulder. "Take me, Theodore."

When the final demand came, Theodore didn’t have to be told twice.

Every desire to tease and to prolong the experience flew from the window. He swept into the desire, caught in a whirlwind that he could neither suppress completely nor stave off entirely. He had to have her. He wanted to learn every single thing about her body and explore the nuances of every swell and curve and turn of her skin. In those moments though it was not about that. It wasn’t a slow, long or languid process, though he took as much time as he felt he could stand. It was fast – faster than he was used to – and it was in places imprecise and perhaps not quite what he would have imagined but what he quibbled with he made up for as they climbed down from their high.

Theodore lavished his mouth across every inch of her skin, committing himself to that learning that he’d wanted to do. From her hairline to the tips of her toes he sampled every swathe and stretch of her, marvelling at the sounds that he could elicit as a result. When finally he could kiss no more and a preliminary map of her body had been etched into his mind, he drew himself back up and settled between her legs before pressing his face into the crux beneath her breasts, pausing, with his skin sticky against hers, to catch his breath.

His hands reached up to lace with hers and he left one lingering kiss there beneath the swells of skin before wriggling off of her. He used their intertwined fingers to move her, too, and as he slumped down onto his bag, expelling a breath of satisfied air as he did so, he drew her into him and his lips found her forehead. He unfurled one set of fingers and instead drew his arm tightly around her while his legs kicked up the sheets so he could wrap them gently around them and ward off any chills that could have been sneaking into the room.

Swallowing a few gulps of air, Theodore reached up and drew back some of Mai’s hair so that it wasn’t sticking to her face. He let his head lean back against hers and he closed his eyes for a little bit – just long enough to absorb the fact that what had happened had actually happened. He reopened them and curled his arms back tightly around her. In the morning, he conceded foggily, something would have to be done about this. Addled by the rapid consumption of the wine, he couldn’t find it within himself to care but a moment of clarity did give him pause. He had just slept with his roommate.

Blimey.

Something creaked on the upstairs landing, and while the sound did make its way into the sleeping redhead's consciousness, all that caused was a bit of wiggling about. In the night, she had curled her arms up to her chest and turned towards Theodore so she could wedge them in between. Her forehead and the length of her nose were pressed against his chest, and while her hair was probably pretty visible to the man next to her, Mairen was pretty well tucked under the sheets. In theory, they would've looked like one person from an onlooker's point of view. Perhaps that was why, when Theodore's daughter roamed in the next morning, she didn't recognize the fact that her friend was also there.

A look around the room showed obvious signs of something having gone horribly awry the night before - at least, to the mind of one who was so innocent, it must have. But the immediate fascination seemed to come from two bits of black fabric that had been discarded a way off from her father's trousers. The little voice met the air, and a question of what on earth these black stretchy things were found its way into Mairen's mind.

Oh hell.

Her eyes flicked open in a mix of fear and surprise, and all she could find it in herself to do was stare at him. She knew Esme was there, and that she had yet to be discovered. But, by God, there was something special about seeing him like that. And at such proximity, too! She glanced down at his lips, her cheeks taking on some of the redness they had felt the night before, and she decided it would be best to try and get Theodore to address the situation.

Her fingers, blessedly warm as compared to usual - undoubtedly from sleeping in such close quarters - reached slowly towards him, brushing over his chest in an attempt at waking him kindly. It wouldn't do to find him already on edge now that the trouble had made itself plain. Esme, however, seemed unable to wait, and took it upon herself to check whether or not her daddy was planning on waking up and answering her question.

Mai simply could not believe her luck. How terribly rotten, timing wise. A fleeting thought burst through, the images flickering behind her eyes and frightening her a bit. What I wouldn't give for a quiet morning, just us. Even the idea that she wanted that shocked her. If Esme hadn't been there, what would've happened? Mairen was a bit afraid of following that train of thought, so she decided it would be better to pretend she had not woken at Esme's initial line of questioning.

That, however, led to a grand shock when Esme realized her friend was cuddled up next to her father. It wasn't, of course, what the girl had probably expected to find that morning. Theodore's words from the night before made themselves known again, and Mairen felt an unexpected wave of guilt for taking his time and attention from the dark-haired little girl that was now sat on the bed, staring at them.

"Morning," Mairen attempted gently, glancing up at Theodore again, hoping he might save her. When she looked back, though, Esme declared that she, too, ought to be allowed to join the cuddles, and that sent a jolt of panic up the woman's spine. "Whoah, honey, wait." She blurted, shaking her head. Doing her best to come up with a reason for saying no, Mai jumped on the first thing that came to mind: "What about that stuffy of yours? Wouldn't he want to be included, too? I think I saw him downstairs last night."

In truth, Mai had no clue where the thing was. But she desperately hoped that Esme would believe her and run off to check. As bad as she felt about potentially lying, she had a feeling that hiding this truth from her was necessary. Esme was far too young, and Mairen was far too uncertain about where she stood with Theodore now. Yes, she wanted it again - preferably when she was sober and less likely to say stupid, embarrassing things he might tease her about later. But she also didn't understand him.

The Rookwoods, perhaps even more than the Malfoys, would be unimpressed with her. What right did she have, Mairen expected they would ask, to run in like she had a chance with him? It wouldn't be the first time she was sent away, obviously, but somehow the idea that it would happen in regards to Theo made her feel sick. All she wanted, really, was an excuse to run off and hide.

Rookwoods were heavy sleepers. Once, Theodore’s grandmother had chidingly jested that it was because they tried to carry too much of the world on their shoulders. When they could finally sleep, she went on, they finally let go of all of their anxieties and really and truly rested. It was said that in Sligo, the day began at eleven o’clock and in the absence of any dark eyes watching over their work, their tenants too delayed working the land until they had to. They were all the same – from first born to lastborn and from legitimate to illegitimate. Thus, it was rather impossible to get them awake again.

In this case particularly, it was going to be a trial. Theodore had always revelled in the comfort of sleeping with others. During his father’s frequent absences, the boy would slip into the beds of either his mother or one of his sisters and seek solace in their presence which could not be found in his cavernous, unwelcoming chambers. Teenagers themselves when he was only small, his elder sisters vehemently complained but the small boy in pyjamas just too big for him who bore a terrible stroke of pain across his face was impossible to say no to. He would curl into their hearts, elate in their warmth and in peace he would sleep to build enough strength for the torment of his waking hours amidst the rebuking company of his brother and cousins. Little had changed.

When he had gotten older, things changed. Hogwarts had, in part, seen to that. What had set into his temperament instead was an aggressive insomnia and a true loathing for cold, damp places which, despite all the magic in the world, he still felt the Slytherin dormitories to be. During the summers, he’d sit up and read or fall asleep just as the hot sunshine was breaking over the tops of the trees. He learned a different way of living and developed an unwholesome taste for coffee and stoked his sweet tooth to give him his energy. As his sisters turned to having children, one night in his rooms, their roles changed.

Theodore doubted he’d ever forget the sight of his sister in her nightdress, stood in the doorway as he had done so many nights as a child. She was thirty-two and the first wispy bits of age were beginning to show. Yet, that night with her hair tumbling down her back and a terrified look in her eyes she looked young and vulnerable. Her cheek was shining scarlet, fingerprints seized into her skin. He had never moved as fast as he had that night. Somehow, he was taller than her, though he’d never really noticed it. Rookwoods have a habit of growing all of a sudden, you see. She was tiny in his arms and it was impossible to stave off her tears. Despite himself, too, he’d felt his own eyes moisten to shed.

As much as he had rubbed her face, trying to force the stain from her skin, it hadn’t gone away. As much as he’d held her, kissed her and whispered that it would be alright in the end, the pain would not abate. She had done as much for him every time Thaddeus’ malevolence lost its benevolent streak and turned evil. She had done as much when he’d come crying to her about his nightmares, rousing her from her sleep. Every time that had all gone away but nothing that night would go away and he could never quite tell whether her eventual slumber was out of true need or whether, so spent from her tears, she could not will herself to stay awake anymore.

So caught up in their stiff, prim and proper worlds, there is something very unhuman about Rookwoods. They are at their most extraordinary when they’re not moving and when for a moment they can rest. When they do not force themselves to carry the world on their shoulders and when they do not force themselves to suffer the most horrendous of traumas they are human again – because only something very robotic can withstand that much pressure. When he slept as a fearful child, he could be a child at peace. When Catherine came to him in the night in shards, no longer able to stand up in the face of her world, he allowed her to be herself. As he slept that night and into that morning that was peeking in through the curtains, the worry had smoothed from his forehead, his lower lip which he had worried so much over the last weeks and months had soothed into healing and he breathed heavily, resolutely, humanly. Like that, he was just a man. He was barely even Theodore. Like that he was much closer to being Teddy. The boy again. The boy that the man had forgotten. And like that he knew happiness much more intimately than he had ever done.

When the first rumblings of little feet registered through his dreams, Theodore didn’t think much on it. He continued to drift on. The only thing he did do was stretch a little, clicking his toes and tightening the muscles in his legs before relaxing once more, his arm around the woman beside him furling a little more closely in, as though to keep her there. He desperately wanted to moan at her when her fingers tripped across his chest. He wanted to grasp her fingers and kiss the tip of each one and his mind travelled off, down the length of her arm but regardless he didn’t shift and he barely, really, registered it. It wasn’t until the two principle women in his life began to speak, particularly the little one whose high-pitched chime was a little too much for the absent thud of wine at the back of his head, he knew he couldn’t stick to slumber any longer. He had been drawn out much too far to so easily go back.

Esme seemed to agree that her stuffy should have cuddles too. Theodore mentally praised Mai for her quick-thinking. It was only after his little creature hopped off of the bed and her footsteps retreated, the floorboards singing a tune of where she was going, that he chanced opening his eyes. It took him a moment or two but his vision came into focus and his gaze, so bright and penetrating, immediately fell to the redhead beside him and the first smile of the day emerged for her. There was a lightness in his chest that he couldn’t remember feeling for a long time. One hand came up to stroke across her cheek and as his eyes searched her face, a thought flashed through him that momentarily terrified him. He put it to bed, not wanting to presume anything, but his mind did linger on what it would be like if every morning began like this one.

“Good morning,” he murmured, reaching to take a loose eyelash from under her eye.

A loud call that the stuffy had been found rang out from downstairs and Theodore’s smile turned into a wry smirk. Determined to hang onto Mai, he turned over onto his front in order to keep his right arm around her and he reached with his left for his wand which had made it, somehow, onto his bedside table. With a little bit of imprecise magic which sputtered and took a minute to get going – which made Theodore wonder, not for the first time, what the Ministry was doing about all this – the things were cleaned up. Albeit, they were all shoved into a drawer whereas he’d originally been going for the washing hamper. Clothes came next for them, though this the magic seemed to get right and soon enough, boxers were being wiggled around him, rather roughly and impatiently, and some night clothes were offered to Mai. Theodore belatedly glared at the clothes, clearly unimpressed but still mildly amused that his magic seemed to have a favourite.

Theodore had no desire to explain the birds and the bees to his toddler. He didn’t think he wanted to explain it to her ever, in fact. Theodore never would have considered himself the shotgun-on-the-porch kind of father but the idea of Esme ever liking someone enough to want to … Theodore blanched a bit at the thought. Wearing some semblance of pyjamas and being in bed with Mai was an easier thing to explain. He could run off a convincing white lie for her without much trouble. If they were as naked as they had been when she’d first come in, however, Theodore didn’t think he was enough of a con-artist to be able to brush that one off without incident. So this was safer. Although, it didn’t really stop wandering hands and as Theodore turned his head into her neck, his fingers did tickle their way up the backs of her thighs.

“Daddy, I had a dream I was a pea!”

Theodore’s lips stilled over her skin and he chuckled, taking his hand out from Mai’s pyjamas. He set the material to rights and turned over onto his back again as Esme hopped up from the tuffet at the foot of the bed and onto the duvet, her stuffed lion under her arm. Theodore had no idea who was responsible for that introduction into her stuffed animal collection. He had two good ideas of who it had been and if it wasn’t the woman beside him then he knew exactly who it was.

“Did you, baby?” He asked, sitting up a little and extending his hands for her. She tumbled into his grasp, not really gaining any purchase in her scrabble towards them and he pulled her over, bringing her between him and Mai and drawing the covers around her. “There,” he murmured, reaching to push down some of the tufts of awry hair on her head that matched her very distinctly with him in that moment. She poked out her chin in dismay at his fussing and he laughed, stealing back his hand with an apologetic look.

“Cuddle Godric, daddy.” Theodore couldn’t do anything less as the lion was shoved into his hands and he turned it over in his grasp, glaring into its beaded eyes. Godric the Lion. This wasn’t an accident. He didn’t know who he’d start on first if familial conspiracy turned his daughter into a Gryffindor. Theodore put that thought behind him, though and instead allowed himself the indignity of embracing the infernal thing, more interested in what Esme was up to.

Through a lot of wiggling, she found her way more over to Mai’s side of the bed – which wasn’t really far away given how the adults had slept intertwined the night before and only now was space being made between them that, disquietingly, did not make Theodore very happy. What did amaze him, however, was that his daughter had no trouble forsaking him for cuddles with her current favourite person. Theodore chuckled and shoved Godric away when he thought that the girls weren’t looking. If it had been Rowena the Raven, he would’ve been slightly more up for it. Even Helga the Badger would’ve been better in a funny sort of way. Nothing, of course, was better than sliding in to be the other bit of bread in the Esme sandwich and wrap his arm around his girls.

“Happy?” Theodore murmured to her, popping a kiss to her forehead. Esme giggled, nodding eagerly at her father before letting her eyes shut again, content with the warmth and the arms around her. It seemed that even the little Rookwoods were the same in that respect. Theodore’s eyes found Mai’s then and he brushed his hand across her hip before asking the same of her. Are you happy, Mai? A little bit of guilt was now beginning to settle into Theodore’s gut. Not regret, mind, but a little bit of guilt. He did, after all said and done, usually take women he liked out on a few dates first.

Was that it then? He liked Mai? Theodore didn’t know what it was that he felt for her but he felt that merely saying he liked her was too innocuous and didn’t really capture the tumult of feeling within him. He’d come to rely on this woman. This lady was someone who he had never imagined himself leaning on. Yet, somehow she’d made his home come alive. Where once it had just been him and his daughter, suddenly it was inhabited by a family. He enjoyed the prospect of coming home because he knew that if he was late someone would be there long after his daughter had been put to bed. It felt like a place he wanted to come and retreat to and the nature of his job had not allowed for that when it had just been him and his daughter. Mai had done that. It wasn’t right to merely say he liked her. There was so much more to it than that now. Theodore wasn’t sure whether that excited him or whether that absolutely terrified him. Probably both.

So, here was the problem: despite her mental demands that she run clean out of his room the moment Esme left, Mai looked up and Theo... and she just couldn't. His look made her, instead, simply sink further into the mattress as it threatened to melt her into some odd, sappy puddle -- even though she knew that she wasn't actually supposed to fill that role. That spot was reserved for Esme's stepmother - not an evil one, Mai hoped, but a lovely one who was worth the wait and desperately wanted to be part of that family. While Mairen felt that she, personally, did have that shockingly strong urge to stay in this warm, caring home, she understood the fact that this was a temporary semblance of a home for her. She knew how little right she had to be there, but she didn't want it to be taken from her too soon. She felt terrible for thinking it, but she suddenly hoped Theodore wouldn't find anyone for a while.

Which brought up the problem that was more obvious and more worrisome: she had gone ahead and slept with him. Regret didn't factor into it so much as how bad she felt for possibly having used him. Had she, though? It wasn't as though she had initiated it. And she wouldn't have gone through with it if it had been anybody else. It wasn't as if Mai would have chosen just anyone in her younger years - although, frankly, she wasn't very old anyway - but this was quite interesting for her to realize and accept. She had been hoping in the back of her mind, while drinking, that he would find her. Not for that reason, mind. But because she didn't know who to turn to, or how to convince them to accept the fact that she was hurting for very confusing reasons.

Mai supposed she should have been happy to see Scorpius again. And part of her was, to be sure. But she was also scared and hurt. She had no guarantee that she could trust him anymore, and that made everything so much harder. Theodore, though. She could trust him, she felt. Perhaps that was why she merely offered a warm, gentle smile in return for his greeting. Maybe that was why she wanted to sit up on her elbow and kiss him.

Mai knew, however, that it wasn't quite the only reason she wanted to do that. Frankly, she knew just how attractive Theodore was. She would have been insane not to notice, really. She felt surprised, somehow, to realize that Theo might think the same of her. Considering the way he was looking at her, she dared to hope that wasn't out of the question. Just as she was starting to forget that Esme would be headed back soon, and as soon as her gaze fell to his lips, his expression changed thanks to Mai's suggestion working out a bit too well. And too quickly, considering she hadn't found it in herself to move. But even as he turned, the warmth of his palm and his arm and even his fingers were radiating through her, and she felt herself wiggle a bit closer.

Still, she was unsure what he was planning until she saw the shirt and shorts settle into the sheets in front of her. Passing Theodore a sheepish, apologetic smile, Mai sat up and quickly lifted the shirt over her head before reaching down to smooth the shorts down and pull them on as well. These would do, she mused, despite the little bit of her that wished for her nightgown. But it would have been odd for Esme to run up and see Mai's gown flying about, she supposed.

She settled into the sheets again, this time more against the pillows than down, completely under the covers. A little, surprisingly content sigh left her before sh registered the fact that Theo was around her once more. A tiny sound of want escaped before she could stop it, and her knee lifted to bend and allow him more access in the direction she hoped he would aim. But, of course, the moment her eyes fell shut and her lips parted, Esme bounded in again, causing Mairen to inhale sharply and try to refocus her attention. That wasn't very difficult, she was pleased to note, because those moments where she simply was able to watch Theo with his daughter were rather beautiful. She did, of course, register each time that she wasn't part of that lovely, loving picture. But it was still a rather wonderful thing to watch, in her opinion.

Once Esme squirmed enough to get settled and passed her father the stuffed lion - which, for reference, had not been Mai's doing, though she now wished it had - Mai found that the only way to keep from grinning at the image of Theodore with the so very Gryffindor stuffed animal was to bite her lower lip. Still, the mirth was clear, so she tried to turn her attention on his little girl instead.

"Hi, sweetheart," she murmured, surprised when Esme scooted towards her and tucked herself into the crook of Mai's arm. A quick expression of wonder flickered over her features, but she didn't object. She rather liked it, actually. It certainly helped with her confusion as to whether she really ought to have been there with the pair of them. Esme so clearly loved her father, and he so obviously did the same in return, that Mairen didn't really feel like she deserved to be there.

She wanted to be, though, Mai realized. It wasn't a sharp or sudden moment of clarity, but rather something more like a confirmation of things she had felt before, coming together to form one simple truth. She wanted it. She wanted them in her life always, but wasn't sure in which capacity she would be allowed to keep them - if at all. So Mai turned in towards Esme a bit, and wrapped her arms gently about the small frame. It wasn't until Theo settled his arm across both of their sides and she looked up at him again, silently reveling in the fact that she was being included, even for a short time, in some sort of family. Hers had never truly been one, and although Theo's was, perhaps, slightly broken, she couldn't help but feel that they were happy and that they were good anyway. A voice somewhere in her mind suggested that she would've done pretty much anything to truly be part of a family like theirs. Preferably theirs, to be honest, but still. The idea of having something like this made her throat tighten momentarily with a wave of emotion, though she smothered it quickly. She wasn't always very good at hiding her emotions, but Theodore looked up at her just then and she just worried that he wouldnt understand. It wasn't as though he would bring it up in the moment, she assumed, and she really didn't want him to bring it up later. So she just let her lips arch into a smile.

Yes, she supposed, she was happy. But happy was a relative term. She was happier than yesterday, by far. But was she thrilled with the reminders of what she didn't have? Not especially. Still, she supposed that being with them at all was rather lovely, so she couldn't complain. Yes, she decided. She was happy.

So Mai gave a single, gentle nod before turning her attention to the smaller Rookwood, who apparently was content to tuck in for a bit longer. Mairen's gaze lifted back to Theo's, a sort of secret, bemused smile appearing that time. A tiny bit of settling in later, Mai had accepted the fact that Esme was lying on her arm, and she let her head fall back into the pillow. She already missed the way his warmth and scent had surrounded her like additional layers of cover, but she watched him over the top of Esme's hair and let her attention drift to the hand at her waist. He was so nearly there, but not quite, so while she wanted to be able to drift off again peacefully, that was looking unlikely. Why hadn't Esme crawled up on one of the sides? Then she could have been tucked against him, or could have at least been close enough to rest her head on his shoulder or even his back if he had turned towards his daughter as Mai had done.

Still, it seemed as though sleep would be returning to the Rookwoods, so Mai turned her nose in towards the pillow to seek out that Theodore scent that lingered there, and told herself that she was just used to it was all. Nothing else was really allowed, she assumed. The night before... She wasn't sure what he had intended, or what he planned on doing now that they had gone through with it, but maybe he would be the sort who acted like it wasn't anything life changing or insane. They had made a choice, and she was glad for it. And she would continue to feel that way until he showed her otherwise. It was with this decision that she was glad she had opened herself up to it, and that she was grateful it had been with Theodore, that she managed to drift and find her way back to the land of dreams.

Theodore awoke again an hour or so later. When his vision came into play once more, albeit taking a few moments given how deeply and how soundly he had slept, his gaze immediately fell to the girls beside him. Esme had been completely wedged between them and though she now had her head resting back against her father’s chest, her little arms were curled around Mai’s neck, showing little signs of retracting. Theodore tipped his head forward and snuggled further into them, pressing a kiss first to the crown of Esme’s head before leaning over to brush his lips against Mai’s.

There was no part of the Rookwood man that wanted to get up. The sunshine was filling the room and moreover it felt as though it was filling up his heart and chasing away all of the darkness that had purveyed the chambers and valves. In that moment, with birds singing outside the windows and with the soft breathing of his girls inside, Theodore knew what he wanted and everything was put back into perspective. All of his anxiety about work and about the politics that was exploding around the factions dissipated in that moment. This was what everything was all about; it’s what it was all for.

Shifting the covers back, Theodore wiggled out of bed. His feet found the floor and he got up, stretching as he did so. His joints popped in his back and shoulders and he lowered his arms before reaching for his side table. He pulled off a pair of jeans from the chair in front and reached up to scratch his fingers through the front of his hair before thudding wearily out of the bedroom. He hopped into his jeans and then gingerly made his way downstairs where, upon entering the living room, he began to clear away the bottles and glasses as well as general mess that had built up over the week.

Once everything was packed away, Theodore stood to survey his good work. He scratched his hand across his chest and cleared his throat before making his way over to the kettle to make a cup of tea. As he did so, he warmed up some milk for the little lady and he dug out Mai’s favourite cup, scouring the cupboard at first before opening up the dishwasher and finding it out of there. Once a cup of tea was made up and the milk was warm for Esme, Theodore picked his way back upstairs.

“Daddy?” A bleary-eyed voice called out to him when he re-entered the room and he smiled at the sight of his daughter turning in Mai’s arms, extending a hand to him.

“Hey baby,” he murmured, setting the cup of tea down on the nightstand before laying down on his front beside the girls. “Thirsty?” He asked, wiggling the bottle just out of reach.

She smiled drowsily and Theodore decide against teasing her. He instead handed the bottle to her and drew his fingers across her scalp with a fond smile, his other hand reaching out to skirt over Mai’s side. He looked down at his daughter again and brought his lips to her forehead.

“I love you, little one,” he whispered to her, drawing a smile from around the bottle.

This. This was the kind of life he wanted. This was what put it all into perspective.

If Mairen had caught the gesture that Theodore extended before leaving, perhaps she would have been more confident of her place with him. As it were, all it managed was a tilt of her head towards him and a little twitch of the corners of her lips, hinting at a contented smile. When he returned, however, and Esme shifted, Mai blinked her eyes open and stretched a bit. Her hands came down to tug at the hem of the shirt she had unintentionally borrowed from him before a little yawn stretched her cheeks.

Upon ascertaining the situation, the redhead’s expression changed into one of warmth and amusement. She let her arms relax around Esme, letting the one that had been curled over top fall to the mattress since the other was more or less caught beneath the dark-haired girl. A bit of a tickle registered as his hand found her side once more, and she had nearly reached to thread her fingers through his when Theodore spoke again.

Nothing, she mused to herself, was quite so wonderful as a parent who cared so very much for their child. And what she wouldn’t have given for such mornings as this when she was Esme’s age. She just hoped that the little girl knew how lucky she truly was. A part of Mairen knew that it was so, but the worrying bit of her decided that perhaps it would be worth making mention of it now and again in the hopes that it might stick.

As for the woman herself, her gaze alighted on the teacup that she would typically have picked out for herself, and a small inhale of surprise brought her lips into a broad smile. Her fingers finally found his, whispering over them for a moment. She sat up, brushing a hand over Esme’s hair in silent apology when she jostled her a bit.

“I don’t suppose...?” she asked gently, glancing between Theodore and the nightstand as she beamed down at him. Perhaps she did have a bit to worry after. But Mairen decided that perhaps she could worry about it all later, when she had been given reason to worry. This, certainly, was not one of those moments. So, even as her lower lip was pulled between her teeth, she managed a smile and then released it to add, directing her words at Esme:

“Your father is quite something, isn't he?”

‘Something’ was quite possibly the right measure of what Theodore Rookwood was. For certain, he wasn’t a man. He’d reluctantly relinquished his humanity a long time ago. Where he began to grasp back at it was in the moments he got to spend with his daughter when he felt whole again for having done so. She was his anchor and his humanity. Now, everything he did he did for her. Had he been without his daughter, in truth Theodore was not entirely sure what state he would have been in.

Raising a smile for Mairen at her words, the Rookwood man rolled over and reached for her cup. His fingers closed around it and he carefully lifted it across to her. Once Mai had taken it, Theodore lowered his hand to cover Esme’s eyes before leaning over and grabbing hold of the redhead’s lips with his own. It was pure impulse and it wasn’t until Esme began to wiggle that he regretfully removed his hand from around her eyes and took his lips from Mai’s, a gentle smile on his face.

He’d not really wanted the discussion with his daughter prior to even determining what was going on with Mai but Esme wasn’t as non-observant as he’d thought and she abandoned her bottle and scrabbled forward, pursing her lips for her father to kiss. Theodore chuckled and lifted his hands underneath her arms before tipping himself onto his back. He kissed her, too, just as she wanted, before cuddling her into his chest, drawing the covers back around them.

“That might be a bit hot,” Theodore added somewhat belatedly with an abashed smile. He rested his head heavily against the pillows and his eyes drooped a bit as the warmth of the bed levelled through him again. “What do you want for breakfast, my little terror?” He asked Esme, brushing her hair out of her eyes. She giggled, uttering that she wasn’t a terror at all. Theodore agreed, in truth, but it still felt funny to say – especially given as he’d always fondly been called one, too.

“Yummies,” Esme replied, nodding intently. Theodore laughed at her and glanced over at Mai, offering her the same question. “Yummies now, please?” Esme asked, her little hand coming to pull at her father’s chin, not having a shirt to grab onto. Theodore smiled and nodded, opening up the bed for her to scrabble out. She picked up Godric from the floor, tutting and pausing to glare at her daddy over her shoulder before trotting out of the bedroom, calling to both adults to come and have something to eat.

“You’re something,” Theodore murmured, turning into Mai. His arm wound around her and he flagrantly ran the risk of tea spilling on him or on the bed. He didn’t care either way and he pulled up her top enough to press his lips to her belly. “You’re something entirely wonderful this morning,” he lifted his head up and he looked at her with eyes full of something that a word couldn’t quite measure properly. He leaned up and kissed her again, pecking her lips before lavishing a few kisses along her jaw. “I dunno whether you want to get a shower or something but either way, breakfast will be on its--”

“Daddy! Yummies!” Esme called, appearing in the doorway again, hands on her hips.

“You’re very demanding, baby,” Theodore replied, turning to look at the little girl. She glared at him more pointedly. “Okay, okay, I’m coming.” Theodore shook his head and leaned in to kiss Mai just once more on the shoulder before throwing back the covers and getting out of bed. “You’re so high maintenance, little one,” he told the girl, approaching to take her outstretched hand. Esme looked at him confusedly as he lifted her up into his arms. “Don’t worry about it. Right, let’s get you and Mai some breakfast, hm?”

“Yeah!”