Fic: Tauron Surprise
Title: Tauron Surprise
Word count: 6200
Rating: M
Warning: May contain gluten and/or saccharine
Summary: A little over a year in the lives of Bill, Laura, and the babies Roslin-Adama, culminating in the uncles' coming over for a family ceremony.
A/N: Thanks to fragrantwoods for the beta.
Previous story: Tauron Transitions
The kids had fallen fast asleep before their little heads hit their pillows, exhausted after a day of playing and swimming at the community pool. Laura switched off the overhead light in their room and gently closed the door behind her, then went to find Bill on the couch.
“Feel like taking a shower?” she asked him. The late-summer heat permeated the house, and a cool shower seemed like just the thing to wash away the day’s residue of chlorine and sunscreen-- particularly if her husband would join her.
“Mmmm?” Bill looked up from his book, A History of Libran Legal Education and Its Effect on the Militaries of the Twelve Worlds.
Slow going; it looked like he hadn’t made much progress from the afternoon, when he’d tried to read for a few minutes but had instead been recruited into a game of catch with Phin and Sephie before being led into the wading pool by an insistent Cyrus.
“Shower? Together?” Laura stepped closer, insinuating herself between his knees.
He placed the bookmark at the open page and leaned back, eyeing Laura up and down appreciatively. “That,” he said, “sounds like an excellent idea.”
Within minutes they had stripped off their clothes and were standing in the close quarters of their shower. A baby monitor receiver sat on the vanity and their robes hung from the back of the door in case one of them needed to make a quick escape. Laura wet her hair and her face, then turned to Bill with an inviting smile: let’s get started. “Hi.”
He let his hands come to her waist and gently pushed her out from under the spray so that he could rinse himself off. Laura giggled and slid her hands down his flanks to his hip bones, knowing that the proximity of her hands to his cock would move things along toward her ultimate goal. Rivulets of water streamed down his well-defined abdominal muscles, a translucent spray dripping over his wedding tattoo as she admired the view.
His erection grew instantly as her hand finally encircled his length. She gave it a few lazy pumps, then reached for the soap and lathered up her hands.
Bill hissed in pleasure as her palms stroked him, tight and slick, one after the other until she changed the tempo, focused on rolling the tip of his cock in her fist while the other hand reached beneath the action to stroke his balls.
With each thrust Laura moved closer to him, shifting her body against his and adjusting his length so that instead of thrusting into her hand, he was sliding between her thighs while she squeezed him tight. One of his hands found its way to her breast, teasing the nipple until it was tight and pebbled. Laura leaned back against the shower wall, tugging Bill closer to her as he alternated gentle kisses with sharp nips to the side of her neck. His tongue slowly traced the green and burgundy lines of the vine tattoos that crept from her shoulders across her clavicle to the tops of her breasts.
“More,” she moaned, rolling her hips against his. Bill growled, a deep, animalistic sound that sent Laura’s pulse racing. Laura lifted one leg and wrapped it around his hip, opening herself up to him.
“Already?” he asked, a question in his eyes that his fingers answered by reaching down and finding her slick and ready to receive him.
“Gods, yes, Bill. Do it.” She guided him in, whimpering into the side of his neck as he began to move.
He braced one arm over her head against the dry part of the wall and thrust into her, his movements quick and shallow. As their passion built, mouths met and melded, neither one wanting to break the connection to do something as trivial as breathe.
“Bill, Bill--”
“Yeah, honey?”
“My leg is cramping.” It took a fair amount of effort to keep her calf propped up over the ridge of his hip, especially with the water streaming down over their bodies, and the discomfort was beginning to distract her from the otherwise immersive pleasure.
Bill answered with a deep, open-mouthed kiss while his hand found her leg and gently guided it back down to the ground. Laura moaned in relief, then rose up on her toes to try to get a better angle. As it was, his cock wasn’t in very deep, and she arched her back to try to allow him to penetrate deeper.
“That’s not going to get you there,” he muttered, running his hands down over her breasts, flicking at the nipples before continuing down to cup her ass. He lifted her up briefly, and her squeal at being unbalanced soon became a cry of pleasure as he slid deeper inside.
But that full sensation was taken away all too quickly, as Bill eased her back down. “Sorry. My back can’t handle that,” he admitted. One of the benefits of over five years together was a reciprocal honesty and appreciation of one another’s respective self-preservation tactics. Besides, a few minutes of pleasure wouldn’t be worth running after three kids by herself and taking care of Bill as he recovered from a thrown-out back. “Turn around, sweetheart.”
Laura tilted her head to the side and nodded in approval. She gently pushed him away so she could comply with his suggestion and bend over. The brief loss of their connection was offset by the intense pleasure of him entering her from behind, his hands firmly at her hips as he sank into her as far as possible. Laura braced her hands against the slippery wall so she could push back against him with each quickening thrust. His hand found its way to her clit, circling it in time with his bucking hips.
“Oh gods,” Laura said, her voice almost unrecognizably husky with desire. “Harder, Bill.”
It had been at least a week since they’d last made love, and neither one of them was going to last much longer. Laura reached one hand behind her, blindly seeking out Bill’s solid mass, clasping his thigh and urging him on. His strokes were quickly going from long and sure to short and erratic.
She gave his hip a last encouraging squeeze and brought that hand around front to replace Bill’s between her legs. Bill didn’t miss a beat as she nudged his hand up to squeeze her breast and took over the task of stimulating herself.
“Oh, oh, yes,” she sighed, sweeping her fingers back and forth over the most sensitive spot she could find--just a little to the left, there, oh. Her inner muscles began to contract around his cock, and her unintelligible cries became higher-pitched as her whole being coiled, shimmered, then exploded, taking him with her.
~~two months later~~
“Bill?” Laura walked into the house, happy to find the kids damp-haired, pyjamaed, and sitting down to dinner around their little table in the nook off the kitchen. Sephie and Phin would soon be too big for the miniature chairs, but for now it was so much easier to contain their inevitable collective mess in the kiddie corner.
“Hi Mama!” shouted Cyrus, spewing half-masticated carrots.
Would the fourth chair be filled before the twins moved on to full-sized furniture? “Hello, my darlings.” She leaned down to kiss the tops of their heads, then turned to her husband.
“Hey.” Bill looked up from the newspaper he was reading at the counter and slid off his stool. “How’d your appointment go?”
She bit her lip, trying to stop the smile that would be a surefire giveaway of her news. Sure enough, he picked up on it, and brought his hands around her waist. His toothy grin relieved and emboldened her at the same time.
“Surprise,” she whispered just before his lips came down on hers. It was a kiss that contained a multitude of emotions: exhilaration, anticipation, gratitude, a hint of disbelief.
It was on this last feeling that he pulled back. “How?” he asked, eyebrows raised.
She rose up on her toes to give him another kiss. “Do you really have to ask?”
Without warning, Bill scooped her into his arms, carried her into the living room and dropped her on the couch before settling beside her.
“Love you,” he said, cupping her cheek with his hand as his other arm pulled her close.
“I’m so glad,” she said, beaming. “All thanks to that time in the shower--”
His smile couldn’t be suppressed. “I remember.”
“The doctor lectured me about the silphium tea. Says it probably reacted badly with something, I should have known to use a backup.”
Bill shrugged. “We knew what odds we were playing.” After Cyrus, they’d briefly discussed a more permanent contraceptive solution, but agreed to continue with the traditional homeopathic herb for the time being.
“You’re really happy about this? I know how much of the childcare has fallen on you over the past few years--”
“Of course I’m happy,” Bill broke in. “How many term papers did I write with Cyrus on my lap? The next one can help me write my thesis. And Sephie and Phin are getting much more self-sufficient.” His hand came to rest on her abdomen as he did the math. “So you’re what, two months?”
Laura nodded. “We’re due at the beginning of the summer.”
“I gotta say, Laura, excellent timing.”
“Academic timing,” she said, “if not intentional.”
“Oh,” he said, “I seem to remember it being very intentional.” He slipped his hand behind her head and brought his lips to hers, deepening the kiss, his tongue stroking hers--
“What are you doing?” Phin’s voice was vaguely accusatory. “Gwoss.”
Bill eased himself away from Laura as she blushed and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
“All done with dinner?” Laura asked, ignoring Phin’s question. “Should we read together?”
Sephie and Cyrus wandered into the living room from the kitchen to join their brother. Cyrus’s face was smeared with ketchup.
“Nuh-uh,” Bill told Cyrus when he reached toward Bill to be picked up onto the couch. “We gotta wipe your face first.” Bill stood up and carried Cyrus into the kitchen.
Laura turned her attention to the twins. Phin was studiously browsing the bookshelf in search of something to read. Sephie was tumbling on the floor, turning somersaults and attempting handstands.
“Nice job, Seph,” Laura said, happy Sephie had learned to channel her energy into appropriate spaces. It meant that they couldn’t have a coffee table or unupholstered chairs-anything with sharp corners-in the living room, but the inconvenience was worth it. “Oh--you almost got it.” Sephie’s legs had neared inversion, but she lost her momentum and toppled back to the ground in a heap.
“Help me do handstands, Mama,” Sephie implored. “Hold me up.”
Laura smiled. “Okay.” She got up and stood behind Sephie in the middle of the carpet, ready to catch her legs and hold them for her.
“Me too,” said Phin, having lost interest for the time being in the pile of books he’d pulled off the shelf. “Help me too, Ma.”
“I can only do one of you at a time,” Laura said, even as she waved for Phin to come closer. “Sephie, go ahead.”
Sephie threw herself forward and upside down, her little legs kicking up from the floor. Laura grabbed her ankles and held her taut, and Sephie started giggling.
“Higher!” she squealed.
“Honey, this is as good a handstand as you’re gonna get.”
“Pick me up. Make me fly!”
“Okay...since you asked for it.” Laura tightened her grip on Sephie’s ankles and twirled her around in a circle a few times. The little girl laughed hysterically, showing no fear whatsoever at being in the vulnerable position as Phin looked on curiously. Laura started to feel dizzy after a few rotations and slowed until Sephie was hanging upside down again and could safely somersault back to the ground.
“Whew.” Laura took a cue from Sephie and sat down, then took it a step further and lay back next to her daughter, taking a moment for the room to stop spinning.
“Bit much, eh?” Bill’s tone was amused. He stood over her, holding a much cleaner baby Cyrus.
“Now me. My turn,” begged Phin, tugging at Laura’s arm.
“Hmm. How about I help you into a handstand, and daddy will spin you?” Laura offered. She was fairly certain that another stunt like that would send her straight to the bathroom to retch; morning sickness wasn’t limited just to mornings. She kneeled next to Phin, helping him place his hands to the ground and lifting his legs up for him when he proved unable to kick them off the ground. “Okay, Bill. Phin’s ready to fly.”
Bill handed Cyrus off to Laura and grasped Phin by the shins. Phin’s shriek was more indicative of fear than delight, Laura thought, but Bill kept at it, twirling Phin around the room until he was a blur of yellow shirt and dark hair.
“Bill, put him down before you drop him,” Laura said. She was leaning against the front of the couch, Cyrus on her lap and Sephie curled into her side. “That’s enough family gymnastics time for now, I think.”
He came to a slow stop, but instead of depositing Phin on his hands as Laura had done with Sephie, he flipped Phin up into his arms. Phin yelped, his face red from all the blood that had run into it from the centrifugal force. When Bill set him down on his feet, Phin took a step in the direction of his pile of books, wobbled a few times, and then completely fell over.
Bill seized the opportunity to take a floor rest of his own. “Always forget how dizzy that makes me till it’s too late,” he said, turning his head to look at Laura. “How are you holding up?”
“So far so good,” she said, gesturing briefly to her stomach.
Cyrus toddled over to the pile of books, then returned with three of them. “Let’s wead!” he announced to his family. He handed one to each of his siblings. Sephie got The Little Viper That Could, Phin received Muffit’s Really Big Adventure, and he kept A History of Libran Legal Education and Its Effect on the Militaries of the Twelve Worlds for himself.
“Hey,” Bill said. “How’d you get that?”
Cyrus laughed, and Bill pulled him into his lap.
“Okay, kids. Cy picked this one, so we’ll read it first.”
“Noooo!” the twins shrieked. “Daddy, it has no pictures!” But they went to his side anyway, ready to listen.
Laura reached over Sephie to place her hand at his back. “Love you,” she mouthed to Bill before he began reading.
~~three months later~~
“Daddy, where we go?” Cyrus asked as Bill fastened the buckles on his car seat.
“Hypatia Heights,” he told his youngest son. “You up for a little adventure?”
“Really big adventure,” he replied. “Yah.”
The twins were at preschool, and Bill had finished his reading assignments for the week. The few hours of relative peace allowed him to finally get around to doing something he’d done for each of his children from soon after he knew of their existence. He just hoped Laura wouldn’t mind that he took Cyrus with him.
“You gotta be good, buddy,” Bill said over his shoulder, glancing at Cyrus in the rearview mirror. “We’re going to a place that’s not really for kids.”
“I be good, Da,” Cyrus promised.
He was going to start running out of real estate soon, Bill thought as he considered his arms. Phin and Sephie on his forearms, Cyrus on his ankle. Maybe his other ankle? The back of his calf?
Another girl. They had found out just last week. He grinned at the thought of his three rambunctious kids learning to care for the new baby, to treat her gently. It would be good for them.
Three, now four. He and Laura must be crazy. But it was a way to establish themselves here, to put down roots. To give the kids more family connections when he and Laura were gone.
Put down roots...
Since moving to Tauron, Bill had found himself thinking about the grandparents he’d never known. Tsattie wasn’t even his blood relation, technically; she was the mother of his father’s first wife. His own grandparents had been killed during the Troubles, slaughtered by the Hercs after they helped the resistance blow up a silo of wheat.
Tsattie had lost her own family in more or less the same way, from one generation to the next, on Tauron and then on Caprica, until he was all that was left. He and Laura kept asking her if she’d move to Tauron to be closer to the family, but she always resisted, said it wasn’t her time yet.
His grandparents Isabelle and William’s time had come far too early. Maybe it was time to honor that, along with his unborn child.
The place didn’t look like much from the outside, housed in a square slab of concrete that might have once been a wartime blockhouse. But the Dancing Bull Body-Art Collective had come highly recommended from some of the parents of the children on the twins’ pyramid team. The sun-faded sign hanging over the door announced “Quick and custom ink!”
Bill held Cyrus on his hip, not willing to chance letting him run around and piss off other patrons or, more irrationally, potentially insert himself between needle and customer, before he had a chance to do some reconnaissance. “See all the different tattoos, Cyrus,” he said, pointing at the sample designs lining the walls.
“I get one?” Cyrus asked, his eyes wide with excitement. “Tat-too?”
Bill shook his head. “Not till you’re bigger, little man.”
“But I wanna!” he whined.
Bill looked over rows of sunbursts, hearts, and tridents; traditional Tauron symbols and more contemporary designs. Nothing appealed. “Don’t feel bad, bud. I didn’t get my first one until I married your mother.” A slight flush rose to his cheeks as he remembered his first ink, the interlocked rings nestled low on his pelvis.
“Mommies and daddies have tattoos.” Cyrus nodded with conviction. He pointed out a poster with different stylizations of the symbol for Tauron, small representations intended for the traditional mark of manhood. Bill recognized the symbol from the wrists of his father and uncle. He’d never gotten one himself, his father too guilt-ridden about his past to want to indoctrinate Bill when the time had come. He walked closer so he and Cyrus could admire them.
“I want,” Cyrus reminded Bill, slapping his hand against the poster. Bill wondered if Cy had noticed Sam’s mark of manhood. He doubted it-Sam had so much ink that the tiny mark hardly stood out. He shook his head and turned to find some assistance, only to find that a young bearded man was approaching.
“Hey, man. Coming in for some ink for you and your mini-me?” He looked past Cyrus to the poster behind them. “I usually won’t do kids until they’re at least about yea-high.” He gestured to an imaginary line around the height of his elbow. “Don’t want things to get stretched out, ya know?”
Cy lunged excitedly in Bill’s arms, but Bill held him tight and shifted him over to the opposite hip. “Just me, today,” Bill said with an easy smile. “Couldn’t get a sitter, so this guy had to come along.” Bill whispered in Cyrus’s ear and gave him an encouraging nudge.
“I Cyrus!” he blurted out to the stranger, eyes transfixed on the man’s wide-stretched ear gauges.
“Well hello, Cyrus,” the guy said. “I’m Revel.”
“Rebel,” Cy repeated.
“Ah, great,” Bill said. “You’ve done some nice work for a couple of acquaintances. I was hoping you’d be here today.”
“Yeah?” said Revel, pleased. “What are you looking to get done?” He gestured for Bill to follow him over to a workstation equipped with what looked to be a dentist’s chair and trays filled with paper-sheathed needles and a rainbow of ink-filled tubes.
Bill had thought about this some more on the drive over, and he was pretty sure he’d come to a decision, assuming the guy could do it. “Could you do a sheaf of wheat, on the back of my calf?”
Revel pulled out a sketch pad and tapped a pen thoughtfully against his temple. “A sheaf? You mean like, a bundle?”
“Right. It’s called a sheaf. There should be four distinct stalks in the bundle.” He hugged Cyrus, smushing his little face to his cheek. Cyrus squirmed away. “One for each of my kids.”
Revel started sketching, the wheat stalks quickly taking shape. “Got it.” Within moments he’d gotten the basic shape sketched out, and looked up to Bill for approval.
“Looks good.” The third stalk looked the best, so Bill pointed it out. “If you could make them all consistent with that one--”
“Got it. It’s pretty primitive-- I can give it more texture, put some individual grains at the bottom of the drawing or something.”
Bill shook his head. “No, just the silhouette is fine.”
“You gonna hold him while we do this?”
Bill nodded, then sheepishly dug a picture book out of a diaper bag. “As long as you can work while I read The Little Viper That Could.”
Revel laughed and began pulling out inks in blues and blacks. “I’ve worked with worse distractions before.”
~~eight months later~~
Isabelle was a chunky, happy baby, more likely to fill the room with the sound of her laughter than her wailing. At three months old, she was holding up her head without a problem, notwithstanding that it was approximately the same size of an Aerilon melon.
Laura glanced into the dining room where Bill was arranging a spread of food around the centerpiece he’d surprised her with that morning, stalks of wheat bound up in a blue ribbon. Though she hadn’t been thrilled that he’d taken Cyrus to the parlor with him--couldn’t he have waited until they lined up a sitter so they could go together?--she had to admit that Bill’s latest adornment was a thoughtful addition.
She smiled at Bill when he looked up from his task to catch her eyes, then returned her attention back to the living room floor. Cyrus was sitting against the sofa with Isabelle propped up against his side. He appeared to be reading to her, though when Laura started listening more closely to what he was saying, she realized that he was just making up his own version of Muffit’s Next Big Adventure-- one in which Muffit stowed away on a Raptor, made a friend on the scary moon, and then had ice cream.
“And dey ate ice cream every day and every day,” he concluded. “The end.”
Isabelle grinned and reached toward the book, but Cyrus had tossed it aside and looked like he was ready to get up. Laura moved in before he could do so, picking up Isabelle lest she flop over without her brother’s support. The infant was strong, but still relatively helpless.
“Nice job, Cy,” she said. “She loves to have you read to her.”
“I know,” he said proudly, picking up the book and returning it to the shelf. “Muffit is her favewit.”
“Do you know what we’re doing today?” she asked him, curious about how much he’d picked up on.
“Sam and Lar-Lar come over.”
“That’s right. They’re coming over because we’re going to have a ceremony for Isabelle.”
“Say-mony?”
Before Laura could explain further, a knock at the door indicated that their guests had arrived. Sephie ran to answer it, her fast little legs just barely beating Bill’s longer, calmer stride.
“Lar-Lar!” she shouted, launching herself into Larry’s arms. Phin, never far behind, wrapped himself around Sam’s knees in greeting.
“Phin, Seph. Back off so they can come inside,” Bill said easily. “Good to see you guys. The priest should be here soon.”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the worlds,” Larry said. He put his arm around Sam’s waist, helping him over the threshold and into the house where more hugs and kisses awaited them both.
Laura could see the grimace on Sam’s face as he bent down to accept Sephie’s hug. He ruffled Cy’s hair, then turned to face Laura. “How’s our little princess doing?”
“I’m fine, thanks,” Laura joked, turning Isabelle in her arms to face out toward their company. “Oh, you mean her. She’s great. Getting bigger every day. Finally letting us get some sleep.”
Sam kissed Laura on the cheek. “Thank you for this,” he said softly, his voice hoarse. “It’s been so long-our family hasn’t had one of these since Bill’s.”
Laura smiled and held Isabelle out to him. “It seemed appropriate, for our last baby and the first one born here.”
Larry looked from Laura to Bill. “You two are really done after this?”
Bill shrugged. “We’ll see,” he said noncommittally.
Laura rolled her eyes. Sam had barely noticed the exchange, too enamored with his newest great-niece. He took her into the living room and sat down on the couch with her, examining her tiny hands, patting her chunky belly. Isabelle cooed happily, then spit up on the bib covering her pretty smocked dress.
“Oops,” Sam said, looking for either Bill or Laura to come in and rescue him. Instead, it was Cyrus who came forward with a cloth to wipe off her face.
“Better now than all over the priest,” Bill said, unperturbed.
“There you go, Belly,” Cyrus said encouragingly. Isabelle blew spit bubbles at him.
“Well, aren’t you the best big brother?” Sam said, patting the space on the couch next to him. Cyrus climbed up and hid his face in Sam’s sleeve, embarrassed by the sudden attention of all the adults in the room. Only Phin and Sephie were unimpressed, and both wandered into the dining room to help themselves to snacks.
“You’re going to have to take care of her, watch out for her,” Laura heard Sam saying softly to Cyrus. “Phin and Sephie have each other. Isabelle and you will be the same way. Just like Yusef was to me.”
Protector and protected, Laura thought, reflecting on Bill’s surprise for Cyrus. It had been Sam’s idea, after hearing the story of Bill’s latest tattoo and Cyrus’s excitement over the prospect of his own eventual ink.
She hadn’t been crazy about it at first, but had promised to revisit the idea once the baby actually arrived. Once Isabelle was here and Laura witnessed the solicitousness with which Cyrus treated his new sibling, she’d decided there was no reason to resist (except perhaps the possibility that Phin and Sephie would get jealous and demand their own tattoos).
But Cyrus deserved his own recognition, and today was as much about him as it was about Isabelle.
The priest arrived a few minutes later, and Bill and Sam went about helping her set the altar for the ceremony while Laura and Larry sat in the living room, supervising the kids.
“Is Sam doing all right?” Laura asked Larry. “He looked like he was in pain, walking into the house.”
Larry shook his head. “Stubborn old bull did something to his back a few weeks ago while he was lifting weights, refused to go to the doctor even though he could barely walk.”
So that was why the uncles had been around so little of late. Laura frowned. “That’s too bad.”
He shrugged. “Getting old. A blessing and a curse. But how are you doing?” Larry asked. “You look great, as always.”
Laura flushed and shifted Isabelle on her lap. The baby yawned, but remained alert, watching her three siblings play a spirited game of “Father, May I?”
“Thanks, Larry.” She’d learned years ago about the power of a good under-eye concealer. “This one’s pretty easy, and the kids are more helpful than I’d thought they’d be.”
“They’re all getting so big.”
Laura nodded. “They are. Phin and Sephie have started school-”
“I love school!” Phin offered from his spot frozen in the middle of the carpet. Sephie just scowled, waiting for Cyrus to give her permission to take three hops forward.
“-and Cy is going to preschool a few days a week. He seems to like it, and he’s even starting to read a little bit.”
Bill came into the living room. “We’re ready,” he said, lifting Isabelle out of Laura’s arms and then holding out his free hand to help her up.
“We need to get a photo of the six of you today,” Larry said. “You’re all so dressed up.”
It was true-both of the boys were wearing traditional Tauron short pants with suspenders, while Sephie had on an embroidered linen blouse and floaty blue skirt, along with suspenders like the boys’ that Laura had purchased for her to preempt Sephie’s preferred rainbow ones. Bill had traded in his grad-student uniform of faded jeans and t-shirts in favor of a button-down and dark slacks, and Laura was pleased to find that her favorite A-line dress was comfortable to zip up for the first time in nearly a year. The kids had been slightly confused about why they had to wear new clothes today, but once Sephie discovered that she could still high-kick in the skirt, they’d all fallen into line rather quickly.
“We’ll have to get the priest to take one of all of us,” Laura said. “After the blessing.”
Bill squeezed her hand and they led the group into the den, where the priest stood behind Bill’s desk. Usually his desk was covered in stacks of books, folders, and notebooks, but today it had been cleared off to make room for a cloth runner, a few plants, and several pillar candles.
“Hang on a minute,” Laura said after taking in the scene and deciding it needed something else. She dashed into the dining room and grabbed the wheat sheaf, then carried it into the den and placed it at the side of the altar. She winked at Bill as she returned to his side and ran the top of her sandaled foot across the back of his calf where the inked version lay.
Cyrus was looking around nervously, while Phin and Sephie had gravitated toward Sam, who sat in a chair at the side of the desk. He placed a hand on each of their shoulders. Laura hoped it would have the intended calming effect and allow the twins to behave for the five minutes the blessing would take.
She and Bill weren’t strongly religious, but they’d agreed when the twins were born that they wanted their children to have at least some exposure to Kobolism. Here on Tauron, the religion of the Twelve Worlds wasn’t strictly followed, and cultural traditions transcended religious ones. The priest bridged the gap between the two. Laura had felt instantly at ease with the woman, whose fierce spirit belied her short stature. She was Gemenese, a transplant on Tauron like them. Her cocoa-colored skin and turban marked her as an outsider here as much as Laura’s fair complexion and red hair did.
And she was at ease with babies, that much was easy to see as she took Isabelle from Bill and sat her on the desk-turned-altar. Isabelle looked around curiously, her eyes coming to rest on her uncharacteristically calm brothers and sisters. “Life here began out there,” Elosha began. “And it continues, from one generation to the next, each one entrusting their world and its traditions to those who come after.”
She handed Isabelle the small figurine that would become her totem. Isabelle put it in her mouth, but the priestess continued on, unperturbed.
“I consecrate this child, Isabelle, in the name of Aurora, goddess of the dawn. May the goddess protect and watch over her with the sunrise of each new day, wherever she may go.” Elosha secured her grip on the baby with one hand and gestured for Bill to bring up Cyrus.
“And you, Cyrus,” she said to the little boy, whom Bill had placed on the desk next to Isabelle, “will be her protector as well. Do you take this charge willingly, and agree to look out for her all the days of your lives? Will you do your best to keep her safe from harm, and be her friend whenever she is in need?”
Cyrus looked from Elosha to Isabelle to Bill and finally Laura, a quizzical look on his face. Finally Laura whispered, “Say yes, honey.”
“Yes honey!” he repeated.
“Very good,” Elosha said. She handed Cyrus an ebony figurine of Zeus. “Having taken this charge willingly, you become a man in the eyes of the gods. Sam?”
Sam stepped forward and accepted the stone dexameni of henna and primitive quill Elosha handed him. “Hold out your wrist, buddy,” Sam said softly to Cyrus. “You’re a man of the Tauron now, for always.”
Cyrus watched, fascinated, as Sam painted the traditional mark of Tauron onto the underside of his wrist. Phineus and Sephie moved closer to the altar, propping their chins on the desk to watch the marking ceremony. Laura could see them both fidgeting, the cost of not speaking up and demanding “me too” obviously paining them both dearly.
Maybe Bill bribed them, she thought gratefully, as moments passed and the twins yet remained quiet.
Sam’s hand shook as he finished his task. “That’s your mark of faithfulness to the soil, your mark of manhood,” he said softly, leaning down to kiss Cyrus’s cheeks, the left then the right. “Ha’la’tha.”
Sam turned to Isabelle, lifting her from Elosha’s arms. “My mother’s name lives on through you, Isabelle Adama.”
“Roslin-Adama,” Bill corrected quietly, and Laura didn’t think it was possible to love Bill any more than she did in that moment.
“The mark of protection,” Elosha said, keeping the ceremony on task.
Sam smiled at Laura in acknowledgment and handed the baby to her. “You’ll be faithful to each other,” Sam said to the two youngest children. “As Roslin-Adamas.”
Isabelle began to cry as Sam started painting the coordinating mark on the back of her wrist. Laura held her close and made soothing noises, but it wasn’t until Cyrus got her attention by waving his new mark on front of her face that she became distracted enough to stop. “Look, Belly! You get one too!”
That was the final straw for Sephie. “I want one too, daddy,” she pouted, tugging at Bill’s sleeve. “Me next, me next.”
Bill reached down and swung her up to his hip, groaning a bit at the movement that had once been so facile. “Shh,” he said, patting her back. “You’re getting new sneakers if you’re good for the entire ceremony, remember?”
“But I want mark of manhood,” she said through wibbly lips, albeit not nearly as loudly as she was capable of being.
Phin was just looking on in interest, his green eyes wide, as Sam finished Isabelle’s protected mark. Bill set Sephie down next to him, and Phin looked over to his sister and draped his arm over her shoulders. “We don’t need one ‘cause we’re twins, Sephie. Don’t you want new pyramid shoes more than you want a mark?”
Sephie grumbled in response, but piped down, obviously soothed by Phin’s proximity. Laura made a mental note to ask Sam later whether there was a comparable mark of womanhood and at what age it would be appropriate for Sephie to get one.
The henna dried quickly, and Bill lifted Cyrus up so that he could lean in to kiss both of Isabelle’s cheeks, as Sam had done to him.
Elosha took a bunch of sage from the altar and lit the end with one of the candles, then waved it over the heads of each of the children. “Protected and protector,” she said, lingering the burning sage over Isabelle and Cyrus. “So she is named, so he is chosen.”
“So say we all,” responded the adults together.
Elosha tossed her burning sage into a small bowl of water, extinguishing it, and looked up with a bright smile. “So how about a family photo?”
“I’ll get my camera,” Larry offered. “Be right back.”
Laura saw Sam moving to slip into the dining room. “Oh no, theios. Get back here.”
Sam nodded and returned, picking up Sephie with hardly a grimace. She grinned and lay her head against his shoulder, tracing the marks on the side of his neck with her little finger.
Figures that she’d be attracted to the tattoo marking him as an assassin, Laura thought wearily. But the giggling bundle in her arms pushed away the thought. She and Bill stood together holding Isabelle and Cyrus, with Sam and Sephie on Laura’s other side. Once he’d handed the camera to the priest, Larry and Phin stood next to Bill.
“Smile, everyone,” Elosha said, as she took several shots of the group. Once the group began to disperse, Bill leaned closer to Laura, Cyrus still on his hip. “Love you so much,” he said.
Laura smiled and rubbed her cheek against his rough one briefly before whispering her response in his ear. “Not possibly as much as I love you,” she said. “And tonight...I’ll show you.”
Next story: Tauron Tales
Word count: 6200
Rating: M
Warning: May contain gluten and/or saccharine
Summary: A little over a year in the lives of Bill, Laura, and the babies Roslin-Adama, culminating in the uncles' coming over for a family ceremony.
A/N: Thanks to fragrantwoods for the beta.
Previous story: Tauron Transitions
The kids had fallen fast asleep before their little heads hit their pillows, exhausted after a day of playing and swimming at the community pool. Laura switched off the overhead light in their room and gently closed the door behind her, then went to find Bill on the couch.
“Feel like taking a shower?” she asked him. The late-summer heat permeated the house, and a cool shower seemed like just the thing to wash away the day’s residue of chlorine and sunscreen-- particularly if her husband would join her.
“Mmmm?” Bill looked up from his book, A History of Libran Legal Education and Its Effect on the Militaries of the Twelve Worlds.
Slow going; it looked like he hadn’t made much progress from the afternoon, when he’d tried to read for a few minutes but had instead been recruited into a game of catch with Phin and Sephie before being led into the wading pool by an insistent Cyrus.
“Shower? Together?” Laura stepped closer, insinuating herself between his knees.
He placed the bookmark at the open page and leaned back, eyeing Laura up and down appreciatively. “That,” he said, “sounds like an excellent idea.”
Within minutes they had stripped off their clothes and were standing in the close quarters of their shower. A baby monitor receiver sat on the vanity and their robes hung from the back of the door in case one of them needed to make a quick escape. Laura wet her hair and her face, then turned to Bill with an inviting smile: let’s get started. “Hi.”
He let his hands come to her waist and gently pushed her out from under the spray so that he could rinse himself off. Laura giggled and slid her hands down his flanks to his hip bones, knowing that the proximity of her hands to his cock would move things along toward her ultimate goal. Rivulets of water streamed down his well-defined abdominal muscles, a translucent spray dripping over his wedding tattoo as she admired the view.
His erection grew instantly as her hand finally encircled his length. She gave it a few lazy pumps, then reached for the soap and lathered up her hands.
Bill hissed in pleasure as her palms stroked him, tight and slick, one after the other until she changed the tempo, focused on rolling the tip of his cock in her fist while the other hand reached beneath the action to stroke his balls.
With each thrust Laura moved closer to him, shifting her body against his and adjusting his length so that instead of thrusting into her hand, he was sliding between her thighs while she squeezed him tight. One of his hands found its way to her breast, teasing the nipple until it was tight and pebbled. Laura leaned back against the shower wall, tugging Bill closer to her as he alternated gentle kisses with sharp nips to the side of her neck. His tongue slowly traced the green and burgundy lines of the vine tattoos that crept from her shoulders across her clavicle to the tops of her breasts.
“More,” she moaned, rolling her hips against his. Bill growled, a deep, animalistic sound that sent Laura’s pulse racing. Laura lifted one leg and wrapped it around his hip, opening herself up to him.
“Already?” he asked, a question in his eyes that his fingers answered by reaching down and finding her slick and ready to receive him.
“Gods, yes, Bill. Do it.” She guided him in, whimpering into the side of his neck as he began to move.
He braced one arm over her head against the dry part of the wall and thrust into her, his movements quick and shallow. As their passion built, mouths met and melded, neither one wanting to break the connection to do something as trivial as breathe.
“Bill, Bill--”
“Yeah, honey?”
“My leg is cramping.” It took a fair amount of effort to keep her calf propped up over the ridge of his hip, especially with the water streaming down over their bodies, and the discomfort was beginning to distract her from the otherwise immersive pleasure.
Bill answered with a deep, open-mouthed kiss while his hand found her leg and gently guided it back down to the ground. Laura moaned in relief, then rose up on her toes to try to get a better angle. As it was, his cock wasn’t in very deep, and she arched her back to try to allow him to penetrate deeper.
“That’s not going to get you there,” he muttered, running his hands down over her breasts, flicking at the nipples before continuing down to cup her ass. He lifted her up briefly, and her squeal at being unbalanced soon became a cry of pleasure as he slid deeper inside.
But that full sensation was taken away all too quickly, as Bill eased her back down. “Sorry. My back can’t handle that,” he admitted. One of the benefits of over five years together was a reciprocal honesty and appreciation of one another’s respective self-preservation tactics. Besides, a few minutes of pleasure wouldn’t be worth running after three kids by herself and taking care of Bill as he recovered from a thrown-out back. “Turn around, sweetheart.”
Laura tilted her head to the side and nodded in approval. She gently pushed him away so she could comply with his suggestion and bend over. The brief loss of their connection was offset by the intense pleasure of him entering her from behind, his hands firmly at her hips as he sank into her as far as possible. Laura braced her hands against the slippery wall so she could push back against him with each quickening thrust. His hand found its way to her clit, circling it in time with his bucking hips.
“Oh gods,” Laura said, her voice almost unrecognizably husky with desire. “Harder, Bill.”
It had been at least a week since they’d last made love, and neither one of them was going to last much longer. Laura reached one hand behind her, blindly seeking out Bill’s solid mass, clasping his thigh and urging him on. His strokes were quickly going from long and sure to short and erratic.
She gave his hip a last encouraging squeeze and brought that hand around front to replace Bill’s between her legs. Bill didn’t miss a beat as she nudged his hand up to squeeze her breast and took over the task of stimulating herself.
“Oh, oh, yes,” she sighed, sweeping her fingers back and forth over the most sensitive spot she could find--just a little to the left, there, oh. Her inner muscles began to contract around his cock, and her unintelligible cries became higher-pitched as her whole being coiled, shimmered, then exploded, taking him with her.
~~two months later~~
“Bill?” Laura walked into the house, happy to find the kids damp-haired, pyjamaed, and sitting down to dinner around their little table in the nook off the kitchen. Sephie and Phin would soon be too big for the miniature chairs, but for now it was so much easier to contain their inevitable collective mess in the kiddie corner.
“Hi Mama!” shouted Cyrus, spewing half-masticated carrots.
Would the fourth chair be filled before the twins moved on to full-sized furniture? “Hello, my darlings.” She leaned down to kiss the tops of their heads, then turned to her husband.
“Hey.” Bill looked up from the newspaper he was reading at the counter and slid off his stool. “How’d your appointment go?”
She bit her lip, trying to stop the smile that would be a surefire giveaway of her news. Sure enough, he picked up on it, and brought his hands around her waist. His toothy grin relieved and emboldened her at the same time.
“Surprise,” she whispered just before his lips came down on hers. It was a kiss that contained a multitude of emotions: exhilaration, anticipation, gratitude, a hint of disbelief.
It was on this last feeling that he pulled back. “How?” he asked, eyebrows raised.
She rose up on her toes to give him another kiss. “Do you really have to ask?”
Without warning, Bill scooped her into his arms, carried her into the living room and dropped her on the couch before settling beside her.
“Love you,” he said, cupping her cheek with his hand as his other arm pulled her close.
“I’m so glad,” she said, beaming. “All thanks to that time in the shower--”
His smile couldn’t be suppressed. “I remember.”
“The doctor lectured me about the silphium tea. Says it probably reacted badly with something, I should have known to use a backup.”
Bill shrugged. “We knew what odds we were playing.” After Cyrus, they’d briefly discussed a more permanent contraceptive solution, but agreed to continue with the traditional homeopathic herb for the time being.
“You’re really happy about this? I know how much of the childcare has fallen on you over the past few years--”
“Of course I’m happy,” Bill broke in. “How many term papers did I write with Cyrus on my lap? The next one can help me write my thesis. And Sephie and Phin are getting much more self-sufficient.” His hand came to rest on her abdomen as he did the math. “So you’re what, two months?”
Laura nodded. “We’re due at the beginning of the summer.”
“I gotta say, Laura, excellent timing.”
“Academic timing,” she said, “if not intentional.”
“Oh,” he said, “I seem to remember it being very intentional.” He slipped his hand behind her head and brought his lips to hers, deepening the kiss, his tongue stroking hers--
“What are you doing?” Phin’s voice was vaguely accusatory. “Gwoss.”
Bill eased himself away from Laura as she blushed and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
“All done with dinner?” Laura asked, ignoring Phin’s question. “Should we read together?”
Sephie and Cyrus wandered into the living room from the kitchen to join their brother. Cyrus’s face was smeared with ketchup.
“Nuh-uh,” Bill told Cyrus when he reached toward Bill to be picked up onto the couch. “We gotta wipe your face first.” Bill stood up and carried Cyrus into the kitchen.
Laura turned her attention to the twins. Phin was studiously browsing the bookshelf in search of something to read. Sephie was tumbling on the floor, turning somersaults and attempting handstands.
“Nice job, Seph,” Laura said, happy Sephie had learned to channel her energy into appropriate spaces. It meant that they couldn’t have a coffee table or unupholstered chairs-anything with sharp corners-in the living room, but the inconvenience was worth it. “Oh--you almost got it.” Sephie’s legs had neared inversion, but she lost her momentum and toppled back to the ground in a heap.
“Help me do handstands, Mama,” Sephie implored. “Hold me up.”
Laura smiled. “Okay.” She got up and stood behind Sephie in the middle of the carpet, ready to catch her legs and hold them for her.
“Me too,” said Phin, having lost interest for the time being in the pile of books he’d pulled off the shelf. “Help me too, Ma.”
“I can only do one of you at a time,” Laura said, even as she waved for Phin to come closer. “Sephie, go ahead.”
Sephie threw herself forward and upside down, her little legs kicking up from the floor. Laura grabbed her ankles and held her taut, and Sephie started giggling.
“Higher!” she squealed.
“Honey, this is as good a handstand as you’re gonna get.”
“Pick me up. Make me fly!”
“Okay...since you asked for it.” Laura tightened her grip on Sephie’s ankles and twirled her around in a circle a few times. The little girl laughed hysterically, showing no fear whatsoever at being in the vulnerable position as Phin looked on curiously. Laura started to feel dizzy after a few rotations and slowed until Sephie was hanging upside down again and could safely somersault back to the ground.
“Whew.” Laura took a cue from Sephie and sat down, then took it a step further and lay back next to her daughter, taking a moment for the room to stop spinning.
“Bit much, eh?” Bill’s tone was amused. He stood over her, holding a much cleaner baby Cyrus.
“Now me. My turn,” begged Phin, tugging at Laura’s arm.
“Hmm. How about I help you into a handstand, and daddy will spin you?” Laura offered. She was fairly certain that another stunt like that would send her straight to the bathroom to retch; morning sickness wasn’t limited just to mornings. She kneeled next to Phin, helping him place his hands to the ground and lifting his legs up for him when he proved unable to kick them off the ground. “Okay, Bill. Phin’s ready to fly.”
Bill handed Cyrus off to Laura and grasped Phin by the shins. Phin’s shriek was more indicative of fear than delight, Laura thought, but Bill kept at it, twirling Phin around the room until he was a blur of yellow shirt and dark hair.
“Bill, put him down before you drop him,” Laura said. She was leaning against the front of the couch, Cyrus on her lap and Sephie curled into her side. “That’s enough family gymnastics time for now, I think.”
He came to a slow stop, but instead of depositing Phin on his hands as Laura had done with Sephie, he flipped Phin up into his arms. Phin yelped, his face red from all the blood that had run into it from the centrifugal force. When Bill set him down on his feet, Phin took a step in the direction of his pile of books, wobbled a few times, and then completely fell over.
Bill seized the opportunity to take a floor rest of his own. “Always forget how dizzy that makes me till it’s too late,” he said, turning his head to look at Laura. “How are you holding up?”
“So far so good,” she said, gesturing briefly to her stomach.
Cyrus toddled over to the pile of books, then returned with three of them. “Let’s wead!” he announced to his family. He handed one to each of his siblings. Sephie got The Little Viper That Could, Phin received Muffit’s Really Big Adventure, and he kept A History of Libran Legal Education and Its Effect on the Militaries of the Twelve Worlds for himself.
“Hey,” Bill said. “How’d you get that?”
Cyrus laughed, and Bill pulled him into his lap.
“Okay, kids. Cy picked this one, so we’ll read it first.”
“Noooo!” the twins shrieked. “Daddy, it has no pictures!” But they went to his side anyway, ready to listen.
Laura reached over Sephie to place her hand at his back. “Love you,” she mouthed to Bill before he began reading.
~~three months later~~
“Daddy, where we go?” Cyrus asked as Bill fastened the buckles on his car seat.
“Hypatia Heights,” he told his youngest son. “You up for a little adventure?”
“Really big adventure,” he replied. “Yah.”
The twins were at preschool, and Bill had finished his reading assignments for the week. The few hours of relative peace allowed him to finally get around to doing something he’d done for each of his children from soon after he knew of their existence. He just hoped Laura wouldn’t mind that he took Cyrus with him.
“You gotta be good, buddy,” Bill said over his shoulder, glancing at Cyrus in the rearview mirror. “We’re going to a place that’s not really for kids.”
“I be good, Da,” Cyrus promised.
He was going to start running out of real estate soon, Bill thought as he considered his arms. Phin and Sephie on his forearms, Cyrus on his ankle. Maybe his other ankle? The back of his calf?
Another girl. They had found out just last week. He grinned at the thought of his three rambunctious kids learning to care for the new baby, to treat her gently. It would be good for them.
Three, now four. He and Laura must be crazy. But it was a way to establish themselves here, to put down roots. To give the kids more family connections when he and Laura were gone.
Put down roots...
Since moving to Tauron, Bill had found himself thinking about the grandparents he’d never known. Tsattie wasn’t even his blood relation, technically; she was the mother of his father’s first wife. His own grandparents had been killed during the Troubles, slaughtered by the Hercs after they helped the resistance blow up a silo of wheat.
Tsattie had lost her own family in more or less the same way, from one generation to the next, on Tauron and then on Caprica, until he was all that was left. He and Laura kept asking her if she’d move to Tauron to be closer to the family, but she always resisted, said it wasn’t her time yet.
His grandparents Isabelle and William’s time had come far too early. Maybe it was time to honor that, along with his unborn child.
The place didn’t look like much from the outside, housed in a square slab of concrete that might have once been a wartime blockhouse. But the Dancing Bull Body-Art Collective had come highly recommended from some of the parents of the children on the twins’ pyramid team. The sun-faded sign hanging over the door announced “Quick and custom ink!”
Bill held Cyrus on his hip, not willing to chance letting him run around and piss off other patrons or, more irrationally, potentially insert himself between needle and customer, before he had a chance to do some reconnaissance. “See all the different tattoos, Cyrus,” he said, pointing at the sample designs lining the walls.
“I get one?” Cyrus asked, his eyes wide with excitement. “Tat-too?”
Bill shook his head. “Not till you’re bigger, little man.”
“But I wanna!” he whined.
Bill looked over rows of sunbursts, hearts, and tridents; traditional Tauron symbols and more contemporary designs. Nothing appealed. “Don’t feel bad, bud. I didn’t get my first one until I married your mother.” A slight flush rose to his cheeks as he remembered his first ink, the interlocked rings nestled low on his pelvis.
“Mommies and daddies have tattoos.” Cyrus nodded with conviction. He pointed out a poster with different stylizations of the symbol for Tauron, small representations intended for the traditional mark of manhood. Bill recognized the symbol from the wrists of his father and uncle. He’d never gotten one himself, his father too guilt-ridden about his past to want to indoctrinate Bill when the time had come. He walked closer so he and Cyrus could admire them.
“I want,” Cyrus reminded Bill, slapping his hand against the poster. Bill wondered if Cy had noticed Sam’s mark of manhood. He doubted it-Sam had so much ink that the tiny mark hardly stood out. He shook his head and turned to find some assistance, only to find that a young bearded man was approaching.
“Hey, man. Coming in for some ink for you and your mini-me?” He looked past Cyrus to the poster behind them. “I usually won’t do kids until they’re at least about yea-high.” He gestured to an imaginary line around the height of his elbow. “Don’t want things to get stretched out, ya know?”
Cy lunged excitedly in Bill’s arms, but Bill held him tight and shifted him over to the opposite hip. “Just me, today,” Bill said with an easy smile. “Couldn’t get a sitter, so this guy had to come along.” Bill whispered in Cyrus’s ear and gave him an encouraging nudge.
“I Cyrus!” he blurted out to the stranger, eyes transfixed on the man’s wide-stretched ear gauges.
“Well hello, Cyrus,” the guy said. “I’m Revel.”
“Rebel,” Cy repeated.
“Ah, great,” Bill said. “You’ve done some nice work for a couple of acquaintances. I was hoping you’d be here today.”
“Yeah?” said Revel, pleased. “What are you looking to get done?” He gestured for Bill to follow him over to a workstation equipped with what looked to be a dentist’s chair and trays filled with paper-sheathed needles and a rainbow of ink-filled tubes.
Bill had thought about this some more on the drive over, and he was pretty sure he’d come to a decision, assuming the guy could do it. “Could you do a sheaf of wheat, on the back of my calf?”
Revel pulled out a sketch pad and tapped a pen thoughtfully against his temple. “A sheaf? You mean like, a bundle?”
“Right. It’s called a sheaf. There should be four distinct stalks in the bundle.” He hugged Cyrus, smushing his little face to his cheek. Cyrus squirmed away. “One for each of my kids.”
Revel started sketching, the wheat stalks quickly taking shape. “Got it.” Within moments he’d gotten the basic shape sketched out, and looked up to Bill for approval.
“Looks good.” The third stalk looked the best, so Bill pointed it out. “If you could make them all consistent with that one--”
“Got it. It’s pretty primitive-- I can give it more texture, put some individual grains at the bottom of the drawing or something.”
Bill shook his head. “No, just the silhouette is fine.”
“You gonna hold him while we do this?”
Bill nodded, then sheepishly dug a picture book out of a diaper bag. “As long as you can work while I read The Little Viper That Could.”
Revel laughed and began pulling out inks in blues and blacks. “I’ve worked with worse distractions before.”
~~eight months later~~
Isabelle was a chunky, happy baby, more likely to fill the room with the sound of her laughter than her wailing. At three months old, she was holding up her head without a problem, notwithstanding that it was approximately the same size of an Aerilon melon.
Laura glanced into the dining room where Bill was arranging a spread of food around the centerpiece he’d surprised her with that morning, stalks of wheat bound up in a blue ribbon. Though she hadn’t been thrilled that he’d taken Cyrus to the parlor with him--couldn’t he have waited until they lined up a sitter so they could go together?--she had to admit that Bill’s latest adornment was a thoughtful addition.
She smiled at Bill when he looked up from his task to catch her eyes, then returned her attention back to the living room floor. Cyrus was sitting against the sofa with Isabelle propped up against his side. He appeared to be reading to her, though when Laura started listening more closely to what he was saying, she realized that he was just making up his own version of Muffit’s Next Big Adventure-- one in which Muffit stowed away on a Raptor, made a friend on the scary moon, and then had ice cream.
“And dey ate ice cream every day and every day,” he concluded. “The end.”
Isabelle grinned and reached toward the book, but Cyrus had tossed it aside and looked like he was ready to get up. Laura moved in before he could do so, picking up Isabelle lest she flop over without her brother’s support. The infant was strong, but still relatively helpless.
“Nice job, Cy,” she said. “She loves to have you read to her.”
“I know,” he said proudly, picking up the book and returning it to the shelf. “Muffit is her favewit.”
“Do you know what we’re doing today?” she asked him, curious about how much he’d picked up on.
“Sam and Lar-Lar come over.”
“That’s right. They’re coming over because we’re going to have a ceremony for Isabelle.”
“Say-mony?”
Before Laura could explain further, a knock at the door indicated that their guests had arrived. Sephie ran to answer it, her fast little legs just barely beating Bill’s longer, calmer stride.
“Lar-Lar!” she shouted, launching herself into Larry’s arms. Phin, never far behind, wrapped himself around Sam’s knees in greeting.
“Phin, Seph. Back off so they can come inside,” Bill said easily. “Good to see you guys. The priest should be here soon.”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the worlds,” Larry said. He put his arm around Sam’s waist, helping him over the threshold and into the house where more hugs and kisses awaited them both.
Laura could see the grimace on Sam’s face as he bent down to accept Sephie’s hug. He ruffled Cy’s hair, then turned to face Laura. “How’s our little princess doing?”
“I’m fine, thanks,” Laura joked, turning Isabelle in her arms to face out toward their company. “Oh, you mean her. She’s great. Getting bigger every day. Finally letting us get some sleep.”
Sam kissed Laura on the cheek. “Thank you for this,” he said softly, his voice hoarse. “It’s been so long-our family hasn’t had one of these since Bill’s.”
Laura smiled and held Isabelle out to him. “It seemed appropriate, for our last baby and the first one born here.”
Larry looked from Laura to Bill. “You two are really done after this?”
Bill shrugged. “We’ll see,” he said noncommittally.
Laura rolled her eyes. Sam had barely noticed the exchange, too enamored with his newest great-niece. He took her into the living room and sat down on the couch with her, examining her tiny hands, patting her chunky belly. Isabelle cooed happily, then spit up on the bib covering her pretty smocked dress.
“Oops,” Sam said, looking for either Bill or Laura to come in and rescue him. Instead, it was Cyrus who came forward with a cloth to wipe off her face.
“Better now than all over the priest,” Bill said, unperturbed.
“There you go, Belly,” Cyrus said encouragingly. Isabelle blew spit bubbles at him.
“Well, aren’t you the best big brother?” Sam said, patting the space on the couch next to him. Cyrus climbed up and hid his face in Sam’s sleeve, embarrassed by the sudden attention of all the adults in the room. Only Phin and Sephie were unimpressed, and both wandered into the dining room to help themselves to snacks.
“You’re going to have to take care of her, watch out for her,” Laura heard Sam saying softly to Cyrus. “Phin and Sephie have each other. Isabelle and you will be the same way. Just like Yusef was to me.”
Protector and protected, Laura thought, reflecting on Bill’s surprise for Cyrus. It had been Sam’s idea, after hearing the story of Bill’s latest tattoo and Cyrus’s excitement over the prospect of his own eventual ink.
She hadn’t been crazy about it at first, but had promised to revisit the idea once the baby actually arrived. Once Isabelle was here and Laura witnessed the solicitousness with which Cyrus treated his new sibling, she’d decided there was no reason to resist (except perhaps the possibility that Phin and Sephie would get jealous and demand their own tattoos).
But Cyrus deserved his own recognition, and today was as much about him as it was about Isabelle.
The priest arrived a few minutes later, and Bill and Sam went about helping her set the altar for the ceremony while Laura and Larry sat in the living room, supervising the kids.
“Is Sam doing all right?” Laura asked Larry. “He looked like he was in pain, walking into the house.”
Larry shook his head. “Stubborn old bull did something to his back a few weeks ago while he was lifting weights, refused to go to the doctor even though he could barely walk.”
So that was why the uncles had been around so little of late. Laura frowned. “That’s too bad.”
He shrugged. “Getting old. A blessing and a curse. But how are you doing?” Larry asked. “You look great, as always.”
Laura flushed and shifted Isabelle on her lap. The baby yawned, but remained alert, watching her three siblings play a spirited game of “Father, May I?”
“Thanks, Larry.” She’d learned years ago about the power of a good under-eye concealer. “This one’s pretty easy, and the kids are more helpful than I’d thought they’d be.”
“They’re all getting so big.”
Laura nodded. “They are. Phin and Sephie have started school-”
“I love school!” Phin offered from his spot frozen in the middle of the carpet. Sephie just scowled, waiting for Cyrus to give her permission to take three hops forward.
“-and Cy is going to preschool a few days a week. He seems to like it, and he’s even starting to read a little bit.”
Bill came into the living room. “We’re ready,” he said, lifting Isabelle out of Laura’s arms and then holding out his free hand to help her up.
“We need to get a photo of the six of you today,” Larry said. “You’re all so dressed up.”
It was true-both of the boys were wearing traditional Tauron short pants with suspenders, while Sephie had on an embroidered linen blouse and floaty blue skirt, along with suspenders like the boys’ that Laura had purchased for her to preempt Sephie’s preferred rainbow ones. Bill had traded in his grad-student uniform of faded jeans and t-shirts in favor of a button-down and dark slacks, and Laura was pleased to find that her favorite A-line dress was comfortable to zip up for the first time in nearly a year. The kids had been slightly confused about why they had to wear new clothes today, but once Sephie discovered that she could still high-kick in the skirt, they’d all fallen into line rather quickly.
“We’ll have to get the priest to take one of all of us,” Laura said. “After the blessing.”
Bill squeezed her hand and they led the group into the den, where the priest stood behind Bill’s desk. Usually his desk was covered in stacks of books, folders, and notebooks, but today it had been cleared off to make room for a cloth runner, a few plants, and several pillar candles.
“Hang on a minute,” Laura said after taking in the scene and deciding it needed something else. She dashed into the dining room and grabbed the wheat sheaf, then carried it into the den and placed it at the side of the altar. She winked at Bill as she returned to his side and ran the top of her sandaled foot across the back of his calf where the inked version lay.
Cyrus was looking around nervously, while Phin and Sephie had gravitated toward Sam, who sat in a chair at the side of the desk. He placed a hand on each of their shoulders. Laura hoped it would have the intended calming effect and allow the twins to behave for the five minutes the blessing would take.
She and Bill weren’t strongly religious, but they’d agreed when the twins were born that they wanted their children to have at least some exposure to Kobolism. Here on Tauron, the religion of the Twelve Worlds wasn’t strictly followed, and cultural traditions transcended religious ones. The priest bridged the gap between the two. Laura had felt instantly at ease with the woman, whose fierce spirit belied her short stature. She was Gemenese, a transplant on Tauron like them. Her cocoa-colored skin and turban marked her as an outsider here as much as Laura’s fair complexion and red hair did.
And she was at ease with babies, that much was easy to see as she took Isabelle from Bill and sat her on the desk-turned-altar. Isabelle looked around curiously, her eyes coming to rest on her uncharacteristically calm brothers and sisters. “Life here began out there,” Elosha began. “And it continues, from one generation to the next, each one entrusting their world and its traditions to those who come after.”
She handed Isabelle the small figurine that would become her totem. Isabelle put it in her mouth, but the priestess continued on, unperturbed.
“I consecrate this child, Isabelle, in the name of Aurora, goddess of the dawn. May the goddess protect and watch over her with the sunrise of each new day, wherever she may go.” Elosha secured her grip on the baby with one hand and gestured for Bill to bring up Cyrus.
“And you, Cyrus,” she said to the little boy, whom Bill had placed on the desk next to Isabelle, “will be her protector as well. Do you take this charge willingly, and agree to look out for her all the days of your lives? Will you do your best to keep her safe from harm, and be her friend whenever she is in need?”
Cyrus looked from Elosha to Isabelle to Bill and finally Laura, a quizzical look on his face. Finally Laura whispered, “Say yes, honey.”
“Yes honey!” he repeated.
“Very good,” Elosha said. She handed Cyrus an ebony figurine of Zeus. “Having taken this charge willingly, you become a man in the eyes of the gods. Sam?”
Sam stepped forward and accepted the stone dexameni of henna and primitive quill Elosha handed him. “Hold out your wrist, buddy,” Sam said softly to Cyrus. “You’re a man of the Tauron now, for always.”
Cyrus watched, fascinated, as Sam painted the traditional mark of Tauron onto the underside of his wrist. Phineus and Sephie moved closer to the altar, propping their chins on the desk to watch the marking ceremony. Laura could see them both fidgeting, the cost of not speaking up and demanding “me too” obviously paining them both dearly.
Maybe Bill bribed them, she thought gratefully, as moments passed and the twins yet remained quiet.
Sam’s hand shook as he finished his task. “That’s your mark of faithfulness to the soil, your mark of manhood,” he said softly, leaning down to kiss Cyrus’s cheeks, the left then the right. “Ha’la’tha.”
Sam turned to Isabelle, lifting her from Elosha’s arms. “My mother’s name lives on through you, Isabelle Adama.”
“Roslin-Adama,” Bill corrected quietly, and Laura didn’t think it was possible to love Bill any more than she did in that moment.
“The mark of protection,” Elosha said, keeping the ceremony on task.
Sam smiled at Laura in acknowledgment and handed the baby to her. “You’ll be faithful to each other,” Sam said to the two youngest children. “As Roslin-Adamas.”
Isabelle began to cry as Sam started painting the coordinating mark on the back of her wrist. Laura held her close and made soothing noises, but it wasn’t until Cyrus got her attention by waving his new mark on front of her face that she became distracted enough to stop. “Look, Belly! You get one too!”
That was the final straw for Sephie. “I want one too, daddy,” she pouted, tugging at Bill’s sleeve. “Me next, me next.”
Bill reached down and swung her up to his hip, groaning a bit at the movement that had once been so facile. “Shh,” he said, patting her back. “You’re getting new sneakers if you’re good for the entire ceremony, remember?”
“But I want mark of manhood,” she said through wibbly lips, albeit not nearly as loudly as she was capable of being.
Phin was just looking on in interest, his green eyes wide, as Sam finished Isabelle’s protected mark. Bill set Sephie down next to him, and Phin looked over to his sister and draped his arm over her shoulders. “We don’t need one ‘cause we’re twins, Sephie. Don’t you want new pyramid shoes more than you want a mark?”
Sephie grumbled in response, but piped down, obviously soothed by Phin’s proximity. Laura made a mental note to ask Sam later whether there was a comparable mark of womanhood and at what age it would be appropriate for Sephie to get one.
The henna dried quickly, and Bill lifted Cyrus up so that he could lean in to kiss both of Isabelle’s cheeks, as Sam had done to him.
Elosha took a bunch of sage from the altar and lit the end with one of the candles, then waved it over the heads of each of the children. “Protected and protector,” she said, lingering the burning sage over Isabelle and Cyrus. “So she is named, so he is chosen.”
“So say we all,” responded the adults together.
Elosha tossed her burning sage into a small bowl of water, extinguishing it, and looked up with a bright smile. “So how about a family photo?”
“I’ll get my camera,” Larry offered. “Be right back.”
Laura saw Sam moving to slip into the dining room. “Oh no, theios. Get back here.”
Sam nodded and returned, picking up Sephie with hardly a grimace. She grinned and lay her head against his shoulder, tracing the marks on the side of his neck with her little finger.
Figures that she’d be attracted to the tattoo marking him as an assassin, Laura thought wearily. But the giggling bundle in her arms pushed away the thought. She and Bill stood together holding Isabelle and Cyrus, with Sam and Sephie on Laura’s other side. Once he’d handed the camera to the priest, Larry and Phin stood next to Bill.
“Smile, everyone,” Elosha said, as she took several shots of the group. Once the group began to disperse, Bill leaned closer to Laura, Cyrus still on his hip. “Love you so much,” he said.
Laura smiled and rubbed her cheek against his rough one briefly before whispering her response in his ear. “Not possibly as much as I love you,” she said. “And tonight...I’ll show you.”
Next story: Tauron Tales