Shiny, Ain't She? (Annie)

I've been having a look around old forums, and there are so many stories I never posted here! This is an old one, July 2009, from the earliest days of Annie and Ledgic's relationship. Ledgic's twin son and daughter were still babies, and I wrote this as a half-humour piece, or at least something light-hearted in a time when Annie had a lot on her shoulders. I hope it's enjoyable, even after all this time!

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Shiny, Ain't She?

'Led, ye abou'?' Annie rapped her knuckles against the door. As she paused, listening, she heard the sound of a chair scraping back across the floorboards and feet padding in her direction. Not Led's feet, though; too light.

The door opened a few inches and Annie saw a pair of eyes peering through the space, framed by a halo of light ginger hair.

'Ah, 'ey Rose.'

The face relaxed into a small smile and the girl pulled the door open wider. 'Oh, Annie, I thought perhaps that was your voice. Led isn't here, but please come in.'

'Well cheers, I jus' came by t' ask 'im abou' some–'

A baby's thin wail cut through the air and through the middle of Annie's sentence, and before she could continue, the girl had disappeared from the doorway with no sound but the quick swishing of her skirt.

Annie stepped inside, closing the door after her, and swept a quick glance over the room. Rosemary was kneeling on a blanket on the floor, pulling a weeping Lucas up on her lap and speaking to him in a series of hushing tones. The girl reached up with one hand, hastily pulling a bottle from the table beside the bed while holding the child gently on her lap. Belle sat on the blanket beside them, one fist in her mouth, staring at her brother with wide baby eyes.

Annie reached up and rubbed the back of her neck briefly, remaining where she was. Rosemary was good for the kids, she figured. She seemed to know what she was doing, especially compared to the last carer, and from everything Led had said, the twins liked her. As Annie watched the three of them, she was reminded how impossible it was to believe this lass was Eothan's sister. They both had the same thin build, she supposed, but Rosemary's movements were gentle whereas Eothan's were hawklike. They were both careful people, watching and forming judgments before they spoke, but Eothan's judgments were usually negative. And as soon as they were formed, he would toss his opinions out with as much biting sarcasm and cutting wit as he could muster. It almost seemed like a hobby for him, Annie thought dryly. While she could appreciate the cleverness in some of his comments, and actually had a vague liking for Eothan, the man was still an impossible prat.

Rosemary, on the other hand, seemed to reserve most of her judgments. She was pragmatic, acting more then talking, and didn't share her brother's arrogance. She was a good lass, Annie thought. She was sweet-tempered, and though she lacked Eothan's cutting intellect, she wasn't entirely thick, either.

A high-pitched yell broke through Annie's thoughts, and she heard Rosemary's softly indignant voice saying, 'Lucas! Now don't you be kicking your sister in the face, honey.'

Belle made what was apparently her second grab for Lucas' feet, beginning to scream. Rosemary clambered to her feet as quickly as she could, scooping up the now-weeping Lucas with one arm and the screaming Belle with the other. She turned toward Annie, covering the few steps between them, and deposited Belle into a surprised Annie's arms.

'I'm so sorry, but could you please take her for just a few moments? He's been so fussy today, and I'm just having the most difficult time convincing him to take his bottle. Belle will calm down soon, she almost always does if you give her attention and keep her busy.' Rosemary began to bounce Lucas on her hip as she tried to speak above the noise of the children, quickly covering the distance across the small room and scrambling to pick up the abandoned bottle once more.

Annie only half-heard Rosemary's soft torrent of explanation as she looked down at the screaming eight-month-old in her arms. She awkwardly attempted to hold onto the squirming child, the thought crossing her mind that even throwing idiots out of the Blade would be preferable to this. As she tightened her arms firmly around Belle, she looked across the room; and spotting to the door to the balcony, she made straight for the open air. Belle continued to scream, kicking her legs and waving her small hands. Annie grumbled briefly under her breath as the baby's fists repeatedly batted into her chest. As she reached the balcony, she hefted Belle up, putting one arm underneath the child and another firmly around her, beginning to bounce her carefully up and down.

It was a half cloudy day, but the heat still poured down on the Bay as it usually did this time of year. Nonetheless, the docks were bustling with workers, small boats loading and unloading, the fishmongers and tradesmen hawking their wares as burly porters hauled bales of goods off to various places. It was noisy, as always, but only strains of the shouting and swearing reached them on the balcony.

''Ey, quiet lass, eh? Look a' th' sailors an' all, down there.' Annie looked quickly from the view down at Belle to see if talking to her would have any effect. The child continued to screech, and Annie, with a frustrated glare over her shoulder, noticed that Rosemary still had her hands full trying to comfort Lucas. It seemed she was going to be on her own.

She began to bounce Belle again, clearing her throat loudly. ''Ey, come on, now. It ain' tha' bad, eh?' She looked out over the Bay again. How were you supposed to talk to babies? Sure, she'd held them before, but it wasn't something she had had to do often, and it had been a bloody long time. She had watched Led playing with the children, and usually grinned a little, but she'd never felt the desire to join in. She guessed she was fond of them, in a distant sort of way, but they were still Led's. Babies weren't something she knew anything about.

The sails of a ship rounding the cape suddenly caught Annie's eye and she wiggled her fingers at the vessel.

'Look there lassie, eh? See th' sails?' She put her head down next to the child's, trying to pull some cheer into her voice. ''S a proper ship, tha' one is. Probably came all th' way across from Kalimdor I'm guessin'. Ain' jus' one o' those troll ships from up th' coast. Shiny, ain't she?'

The girl's wailing trailed off almost as quickly as it had begun, and she began to sniffle instead. Annie looked down at the baby's face, and, with a brief mutter about needing to change her shirt before she went up to the Blade, wiped Belle's nose with her sleeve. Belle giggled and then raised a chubby hand, pointing out toward the ship and beginning to burble a lot of meaningless syllables.

Annie leaned sideways against one of the beams of the balcony, letting out a quiet sigh of relief. She closed her eyes for a moment and then leaned down again to look at Belle.

'Aye, sure, tha's a goblin ship. They know 'ow t' make 'em pretty, wha'e'er else y' can say abou' gobbos. Ain' 'er masts tall?' Belle began to wave her hand in the air again, giggling, and Annie grinned. 'Aye, they are, ain' they?'

She looked over her shoulder again, noticing that the crying from inside seemed to have quieted as well, and saw Rosemary holding Lucas, who was at last contentedly sucking away from the bottle. Annie caught Rosemary's eye and winked, and the girl walked out onto the balcony beside her.

'I'm sorry to have had to do that to you, but looking after them both can be such a handful sometimes. They do like to both cause a fuss at exactly the same time.' Rosemary smiled apologetically at Annie.

'Eh, na', 's a'righ'. I was jus' afraid she wouldn' stop, y'know?' Annie shook her head, looking down at Belle, whose eyes were flickering back and forth across the Bay, and shifted the child's weight again. Babies were heavier than they looked.

'It seems you did all right.' Rosemary smiled, also looking at Belle.

'Led said she's th' fighter. Guess she jus' starts an' stops when she wants to, eh?'

Rosemary nodded in agreement, and then a flicker of laughter crossed her face. 'I'm just waiting until they start walking. That's going to be a daily adventure.'

Annie chuckled, looking from Belle to Lucas. 'Their da's sure goin' t' 'ave 'is 'ands full, ain't 'e?'

Rosemary hefted the child in her arms, rocking him rhythmically back and forth, and then nodded seriously, looking down at the shimmering bay. 'Oh yes. I have a feeling we all will.'