Chapter 31

Severus's current age: 32

Edwards current age: 30

Aaron's current age: 8

Sven (2nd child) current age: 4

Adriana (3rd child) current age: 1

Ellen(Donna's adopted daughter) age: 8

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"Hey baby."

Edward cooed, lifting my daughter out of her cot. Her hands were fisted as she thrashed happily, arms and legs flailing, the hood of her pink bunny onesie falling down to reveal her grin. Edward cooed in adoration as she squealed at him, kicking in excitement as he held her from under the arms. Her raven hair swaying a little and green eyes looking around while thrashing before turning her attention back to her uncle.

Sven and Aaron were occupied trying to sneak into Severus's study, to see all the 'cool' work their father did. Edward had mistakenly leaked their occupation and ever since then the two chipmunks had been following their father everywhere. Aaron had gone as far as to suggest that his occupation was the reason Severus dressed so cool.

I heard the pitter patter of two feet followed by the sound of someone shushing it. I strained my ears and heard Aaron whispering.

"shhhh, don't stomp on the ground. Momma will catch us if you do."

I heard the adorable 'hmph' of my second son as I pictured a pout at his pink lips, his silver eyes probably narrowed and blonde hair matted to his forehead from rolling on the ground in attempts to avoid being seen.

"Hurry before dad gets back, gimme the keys."

I heard another rustle of keys before the hushed stomps of my clearly offended baby followed. Deciding that Edward was mature enough to deal with Adriana on his own, I excused myself and slowly crept across the hall.

"I'm sorry okay, now stop making that face."

Aaron sounded guilty as he spoke, and I had to stop from giggling as Sven's grin came into view for me to see. Aaron's green eyes were narrowed and raven hair matted as he noticed the mischievous smile on his younger brothers lips. It seemed that my second oldest had picked up my habit to make people apologize with pouts and tears. A tactic that I used on either my husband or my brother-in-law.

I watched as Aaron did a quick sweep of his left and right before inserting the key in and turning it, a soft click followed. Aaron hesitated, before turning around and looking at Sven, who was also in the middle of nervously shifting from foot to foot.

"I don't think we should do this."

Sven nodded quickly to his older Brother's statement and pointed to the door that had slowly parted. The afternoon sun lit up Severus's study and in all honesty, I snuck in more often than not.

I stifled a laugh when I realized what the two of them would have had to do to get the keys from Edwards coat. Since it was December, a thick cover of ice had consumed our city. Making the temperature drop to 2-5 degree celcius, during the day! Another reason why everyone was tucked in warm clothes and long coats.

Edward had to take off his coat upon entering since the central heating system had kept our house temperature normal. Severus had it upgraded a few years back, for the sake of our children and to avoid the constant cold I seemed to easily catch.

Both the boys stiffened and grew red when they caught me standing there, their eyes hurriedly shifting to the parted door of my husband's study.

"I promise it's not what it looks like mom."

Aaron immediately spoke up, trying to explain himself, his hands making all sorts of gestures as I slowly made my way towards them. Sven was quick to slip to my side, clutching onto my hand and throwing me the most innocent look he could muster.

"Momma, brower is tellin the truth."

His adorable baby words brought a smile to my face as I petted his head in reassurance and kissed Aaron's forehead as he continued blabbering. Only calming down once he realized he wasn't in trouble.

Sven was in need of speech therapy and luckily for us, someone from our neighborhood was closely related to a speech therapist. Hence Severus could rest assured that Sven and I were safe when we went to visit the nice man. But of course, he insisted on coming to pick and drop us. Often leaving to get us in the middle of his lunch break.

"How did you get the keys from your uncle's coat?"

Sven pipped up cheekily, smiling at his brother as he told me how Aaron had gotten on all fours and he himself had climbed onto his brothers back and retrieved the keys.

"You two could've gotten hurt honey, avoid doing things like that in the future. Okay?"

They hummed politely, ducking their heads a bit in embarrassment.

"Sorry momma."

They replied in unison.

"Now that we're here, why don't we check what daddy does inside?"

They giggled mischievously, stepping in behind me, both their hands in mine. They looked around with wide eyes, while I took up the seat behind Severus's desk, rotating it a little till my head seemed to spin.

"Momma, what's that?"

Aaron pointed to the pinned map Severus had put up in between two large shelves, I looked at it closely while Aaron moved to the books Severus kept inside his study and Sven copied me. Crossing one of his hands across his chest and using it as a leverage for the other one to hold up his chin.

"Daddy!"

Sven's shriek of excitement had both me and Aaron stiffening as we looked towards the door in alarm. Luckily for us, Severus wasn't there, that had us following Sven's gaze to a family picture frame Severus had at his desk.

Aaron was a perfect mommy's boy while Adriana was already showing signs of being a daddy's girl, whereas Sven was as neutral and equal as a child could get. Sighing in relief, Aaron turned his attention to me, holding up a file in his hand. I gestured my little detective over and he quickly ran his way over to me.

The file had a weird Lotus symbol on it but the thing that had possibly caught Aaron's attention, was the number of places ticked off at the very first page. Just as suspected, the places were the exact same as those marked on the map.

"Momma?"

Sven carried the picture frame over to me and happily pointed out each member before smiling when he realized that his uncle and grandparents were standing at the back.

"Granpapa, pops! Granmama, Cop!!"

He pointed to each of them, giggling adorably, tempting me to swoop him off his feet and kiss all over his face. His wild giggles had me stopping briefly to give him time to breath. Planting a kiss to my nose, he demanded to be let down.

"Down!"

"Alright baby, go see what your uncle's doing okay?"

Pulling a pouting Aaron away from the book shelves, he raced out the door, leaving behind nothing but silence as I smiled to myself, gently patting my nose and reminiscing his cute little kisses. Kissing me on the nose was a habit he had picked up after his father had done it on his 2nd birthday.

Setting the file down, I sat down to go through it. From my guesses, Lotus was the name of a gang and the marked places were those that Severus had already checked, hopefully with assistance. God knows, I don't want him walking into danger. But as Edward had once told me 'Danger can be addicting sometimes, and the thrill to overcome it is even greater. Why do you think we chose this profession after our old one.'

"They definitely picked up on your habit of sneaking around."

I squealed in surprise, slamming the file shut in the process and whipping around to my amused looking husband.

"I promise, It's not what it looks like."

Copying Aaron's words, I sighed as he pulled me into a kiss in response. The kiss slowly heated up, forcing me to pull back for air, placing my forehead against his as I pecked his lips a few more times.

"Okay. I might've been sneaking around a little."

He chuckled, standing up and lending me his hand before pulling me up alongside himself.

"Nothing to worry about love, besides, this isn't your first time in here."

I gasped and my face colored as I remembered sneaking into his study a few months back and turning around to find him sitting on his seat, giving me an amused look... He didn't get much work done that night as he had followed my embarrassed self straight to the bedroom... nor did he get much sleep...

"Y-yeah, did you see the boys?"

He hummed, an alluring mischievous look in his eyes as his lips lifted into an attractive half smile.

"I think they went to bother Edward."

He frowned at the mention of his brother and I had to roll my eyes at his behavior before patting his cheek. Severus had relaxed a little after Edward had gotten married around four years ago. I remember Aaron being the child who had the dangerous job of balancing rings on a cushion. Sven had been barely 3 months old then and he was squealing throughout the whole event, Edward's bride Blaire had taken several pictures with both my boys.

We had gotten along just fine when Edward had brought her over the first time, though that was for her protection. And I was in the fourth month of my second pregnancy. Right now Blaire was out with both the grandmothers, shopping for her second baby. Her and Edward's first child was a girl named Ava, poor thing was dragged to the shopping mall by her mum while Severus had kept me back.

"Is this some new threat?"

I gestured towards the file now laying on the floor.

"Was, just finished dealing with it today."

Severus walked over to the map and placed the pin at one last spot before sighing and picking up the folder, I watched him cross off the very last place mentioned, before tucking it into the shelf to his left- which I knew was for the completed cases-

"Oh thank god, I was getting tired of being under house arrest, again."

He chuckled, pulling me over and planting a kiss on my forehead as I melted into his embrace, hearing his heart beat against my ear always calmed me down because there had been moments where his heart could've flat lined. Soon enough, when the sound of a baby crying greeted us, we were off to Adriana's room.

Severus locked his study and caught up with me quickly, we found Edward dealing with both our sons, and Adriana in his arms as they tried to calm her down as a team.

"Brother."

Their formal greeting had me rolling my eyes but I stopped when I noticed my baby girl's watery gaze. She sniffled before reaching out her hands to Severus, within a minute, she was safely nestled into her father's strong and protective hold. Sniffling a little, she hid her head in his neck while he threw the three boys a blank look.

"Fighting scares her."

His simple statement had them nodding their heads politely, before Edward picked himself up off his knees and picked up Sven. As a baby, Sven was more comfortable than Aaron with being carried around. Aaron on the other hand didn't prefer it much but both his siblings did. Since Edward couldn't carry Aaron around, he made up for it by carrying the other two and Ava in his arms as much as he could.

Sven, pouted at Severus till the serious look faded and a smile replaced it. I busied myself in cleaning up the nursery while Severus greeted his sons with kisses on the head and his brother with a pat on the back. Ever since Edward got married, they had become undeniably closer together, despite their unbelievable arguments, they always understood each other's looks and silent messages.

A blessing for both of them since they never had the need to have a verbal heart to heart, their looks were more than enough and the look Severus supported on Edwards wedding day. The look of a proud older brother, had brought happy tears to my eyes as they hugged before leaving the groom's dressing room.

Neither knew that I had heard Severus's speech against wedding jitters nor did they know that I had seen the hug. It wasn't intentional as I had gone to hand Severus, Aaron's gloves that were custom made to go together with his tux. Sven was tucked in his very own tux, happily giggling and waving his hands at strangers. Many people were talking about the 'friendly baby' by the end of the ceremony.

The bell rang and Sven challenged Edward to a race down the stairs, Severus's warning look tossed their excitement out the window and they chose to walk down the stairs in a civilized manner instead. Followed closely by my husband, Aaron stayed behind, helping me arrange the nursery before following me down the stairs.

The familiar laughter of my mother and Do-mum- It was confusing to call her that and I sometimes slipped up but other than that, everything was going smooth, despite me being under house arrest for two months.

Severus had done it because the person they were tracking had threatened our family, that entailed everyone staying here for more than two weeks to ensure that none of us were in danger. While Edward and Severus would go off to work, both the grandfathers would be prepared for any battle.

Blaire was two years younger than me and had cravings that were quite similar to mine during my pregnancy with Sven, she had dubbed our house her home since she would practically get everything she needed here. Food, a distraction for the children, an older brother like Severus and an older sister like me. Her words had touched my heart and I had nearly cried but Severus had kept a strong hold on me during the whole confession.

I had been munching on chocolate banana treats during my pregnancy with Adriana but my mother wasn't having any of it. 'being unproductive and eating sweets, do you want to put on weight?' were her exact words and then she had resorted to doing exercises dubbed safe for pregnant women with me.

Donna and Blaire had joined in and Sven and Aaron enjoyed doing them as well. So more than half the time, keeping me fit was a family activity. It did pay off in the end though, after a good month of safely delivering my baby girl, mother had started up my exercises once again and luckily since the exercises done during pregnancy paid off, we didn't have to push ourselves beyond limits.

her exact words when I asked her why did I have to do that when I had barely gotten extra belly fat were: 'because I want a fourth grand child.'

That response sort of confused me and I told Severus who at first had laughed but when he saw how serious I was, he proceeded to prove to me how much he cared about me, one thing had led to another. It was a in the heat of the moment thing where he had forgotten about protection till I had practically glowered at him to put it on. He knew how hard labor was since he was in the room with me all three times and he was just as scared as he was excited.

"Aunt!"

Ava squealed, running over to me and hugging my lower half tightly, fortunately, Severus had a hand on my back and he used it to safely balance me.

"Well hello to you too."

She giggled and pulled back before looking up at Severus with a cheeky smile and gesturing him closer to plant a kiss to his cheek.

"Is she sleeping?"

Adriana answered her question with a baby like snore that silenced everyone in the room. Severus excused himself to go tuck her in, the warmth provided by his hold usually made her fall asleep so it wasn't anything new.

Blaire greeted me with a half hug since she was already into the first month of her trimester. She sat down on the couch with a tired sigh as Ellen greeted me next, with a shy smile and hug, after that she immediately followed Aaron to go read a new book she had bought during their trip. Sven distracted Ava while I dealt with the grandparents. Mom and Donna being utterly excited while Ryan and dad felt and looked exhausted.

Severus and I were waiting for the baby shower to present our gifts and Aaron, Ellen, Ava and Sven had teamed up to make a secret gift for the baby.

The night was spent with Adriana waking up and demanding to be fed, which I had promptly dealt with. While feeding her, I had noticed the heavy snow fall that had started and as I had predicted, the driveway was buried under snow, which entailed a sleepover from everyone.

The children were more than excited and had begged me to help them stay up till midnight. Of course, by 'help' them, they had basically meant to provide them with a public permission which no one had the guts to go against.

True to their hopes, they were allowed to stay up late as I prepared hot chocolate for everyone before being helped in making the food by all the females. The four of us fitted right in and laughed through their shopping adventures, talking about Ava's new found crush on a teddy bear.

The men served the food as we set up the table, and then the duty of supervising the kids while they washed their hands was given to the two grandfathers, they clearly had their fun as all of them came back 15 minutes later with happy grins and both the older men being soaked to the bones.

I had rushed to provide them with clothes while Severus had them seated by the fireplace, Edward brought the towels, Blaire scolded the children, Donna provided them with more hot chocolate while mother stood over both of them, giving them looks of disappointment. Only when they were in new clothes, no longer shivering and completely dried up, did we proceed with the food that had to be heated.

All together, it was a lot of fun, especially watching the children do their bests to keep their eyes opened past 11:00 Pm, once they had fallen asleep, before 12:00, the men had carried them up to their room. Adriana and the unborn being the only two children left in the room as my one year old refused to sleep.

Seemingly on a sugar high after drinking hot chocolate that her grandfathers and uncle had managed to sneakily feed her while her father and I were distracted. Now they sat, with her sitting on the table in front of them, my father and Ryan both on the floor in front of her while Edward and Severus sat behind her, making sure she wouldn't topple over.

She babbled away animatedly, pulling one of their cheeks if they seemed to not listen. Her tiny fists swatting at the air as she tried to emphasize whatever story she was telling them. They watched her in adoration and amusement, especially when she leaned over and gave each of them a kiss on the cheek as if thanking them for listening. Before turning to her father and raising her hands, a sign that she wanted to sleep in his arms now.

He chuckled, lifting her up and placing her in the safe confines of his arms. That's when their own men-talk began, Adriana being the only girl in their group as they chatted away. The four of us females chuckled as we saw it all go down.

When the early hours of dawn struck, we decided it was time to go to bed since we had children who'd probably be all over us in the morning if we weren't up before them.