Guardian

xxv. disappearance

Austin declares that having a daughter was the best thing he's ever experienced in his life.

Amelia was now eight months and the girl was just a joy to be around. She only cries when she's really hungry or extremely sleeping, but other than that, he thinks he would've gotten tired of hearing her laugh if only it weren't the cutest thing he's ever heard. She giggles at just about anything.

For an eight month old, she was pretty smart, too. She could crawl and she's on her way to walking soon. She can even use one of her abilities, which he describes it as her being a spider-monkey; she can sometimes crawl on the wall. It's the creepiest and coolest thing, but Ally thinks she's gonna get hurt, so his mother knitted tiny gloves for her hands so they couldn't stick to any surface.

Ally believes her trigger is just being happy because her hair turns orange so much that he forgets she actually has brown hair. Regardless, she was the cutest baby to ever exist.

He was currently sitting on the floor in her nursery, trying to encourage the baby to walk. "C'mon, baby, just two steps. For daddy, please?"

Although Amelia just stands still in her spot, teething on the mitten on her hand. She bounces in her spot a little, but doesn't take any precautions to walk.

Austin pats his knees, trying to get her attention as she looked around the room. He succeeds in getting her attention, but she only pays attention to the sound. Amelia squeals and claps her hands together excitedly, creating the same sound he was making.

"You are something else," he chuckles, watching as she fell to her butt from the fast motions of her legs bouncing. "I love you, though."

Amelia simply chews on the fabric of her his mit. Her attention is given to the door as it opens and reveals Ally coming inside. The small infant excitedly squeals and bounces in her spot at the sight of her mother.

Ally grins at Amelia as she goes over to the grab. She places her bag down to trade it with her daughter's excited figured. Ally sits on the floor with their daughter is her arms, rocking with the child. "Hello, my loves."

Austin smiles gleefully at the sight of both of his favorite girls. He leans forward to peck Ally's lips right before he grabs her supply bag and stands. "You got more diapers?"

Ally nods as she helps her daughter stand with her wobbly legs. "Yeah, but when I went to the market, they said a lot of their supply was gone," she comments, staring up at him. "Ricky said some of jewelry was missing, too. Plus, those two civilians were found dead in the forest... something's going on."

"Well, it is going to be winter again soon," Austin reminds her with a shrug as her putting the diapers up. "People start to get rough during this time."

"I don't know. I feel like something big is happening. It's our responsibility to protect these people. We don't want a revisit of last year."

Austin hangs the bag up, then comes back to sitting on the floor with his wife and daughter. He grabs hold of Amelia's little hand with his finger and looks at Ally. "Okay, first thing in the morning, I give Amelia to my mom, and we go investigate."

"But the crimes are happening at night," Ally points out, pulling Amelia on to her leg and hugging her to keep her still. "We should go tonight."

Austin sighs. He really didn't feel like being in danger tonight, but she had a point. If the crime was happening at night, it'll only make sense that they go at night. "Alright, fine."

They drop an asleep Amelia off at Austin's mother's compartment before Austin and Ally make their way out of the back exit of the castle.

"Oh, wait, I can disguise us," Ally remembers. She grabs his hand and with her other one, she waves it around their bodies with her swift hand. After harshly whipping her hand, Ally releases his hand with a satisfied look. "There."