Two Wrongs Make a Legacy: Chapter 2.2

[leapsbarnes]

I've got another chapter of the Round Robin for everyone!

Last time, sly romancer Liam made a new home in Pearson Bay. A home free from his mother's insistence that he get married and have kids to keep a legacy going. He took advantage of this newfound freedom by bedding every woman he could, of course, until he met shy, sweet Sunny. After a night of passionate romance the two roommates became an official couple and life was peaches, until Sunny found herself pregnant. Now Liam was facing the very same life he had run away from and he had a choice to make. He finally decided that all he really wanted was Sunny, and if that meant a baby, then he'd accept that. Finally little Kato joined the family and Liam was suprised to find that he took to fatherhood quite well. Although, his new outlook on parenthood might change when he finds out that Sunny is expecting another little sproglet.



Liam sat on the couch and read a mechanical book while Kato played happily in her new toy.

"This is a piece of cake." Liam thought to himself. "Why was I ever worried about fatherhood." He smiled when Kato gave out a girlish little giggle.



"So, he doesn't know you're pregnant again?"

Sunny frowned. "Well, I haven't told him exactly, but I haven't denied anything."

Jack laughed. "Honey, that really doesn't count. You need to tell him. He might surprise you, maybe he'll be happy."



"Uhm, you have met Liam haven't you?" Sunny asked, only half joking. "He never wanted kids. Any kids, now he's going to have two." She sighed deeply. "I don't even think he wants to marry me. This...this baby just might be the figurative straw."

Jack frowned and stared at Sunny. A million things were running through his mind. Things he wanted to say, and none of them seemed right. "Sunny, I know men well enough to know that Liam wants you. He wants you enough to change his mind about kids. I think you'll be surprised by his reaction."



Suddenly their conversation was cut short by a piercing scream. Sunny had left little Kato in her bouncy chair and she was fed up.

Jack smiled. "I think that's my cue to leave."

Sunny rolled her eyes. "Thanks. Leave the screaming "sproglet" to me."



Despite her promises to tell Jack, Sunny had avoided explaining her expanding belly to Liam. She was too afraid to say anything. But he really had taken to Kato. She was beginning to think he spent more time with Kato than she did. She smiled down at Kato. "Tonight's your birthday baby girl! I'll tell Daddy about your little brother or sister tonight. Before we have your cake." She steeled her mouth and nodded to herself. "Yes...I'll tell him tonight."



As soon as Liam got home from work Sunny put Kato down in her crib and pulled Liam into their bedroom. She didn't want to ruin Kato's birthday but this was important. Jack was right. Liam needed to know about the baby. Sunny took a deep breath. "Liam, we need to talk."

Liam frowned. "Honey, there is a delicious cake and an anxious baby out there. Is this really important?"

Sunny nodded. "Yes, I need to tell you something." She rested her hand on her belly self consciously.

Before she could say anything Liam leaned forward and kissed her. "Sunny, I already know." He rubbed her belly protectively. "I'm not stupid." He laughed. "Now can we please stop stressing about this and go have a good birthday with Kat?"

So with Sunny's worries appeased and Liam feeling amused the couple brought a bouncing and wriggly little Kato to her birthday cake.



The transition went smoothly and Kato seemed thrilled to be able to eat solid foods.



Of course, the new found freedoms brought trouble all their own.

"Bwock go in hole! Bwock go in hole or Kato make angry!!" Kato pounded the round block against the traingular hole. "Why won't bwock go in!" She screeched.

Kato became a very active and....determined, toddler and that block toy was a dented mess before too long.



Sunny of course knew that with toddlerhood came life lessons. Kato would need to learn to speak and walk, but Sunny was more interested in her learning to go to the bathroom on her own. Sunny had heard about a special baby formula that would increase the intelligence and learning capacities of toddlers and she had to give it a try. She was a little concerned when Kato started glowing, but when she learned to use the potty on her own after just a few days, Sunny decided it wasn't a big deal.



Liam was busy working for most of Sunny's pregnancy/Kato's toddlerhood. This meant that Sunny spent most of her days alone with Kato. Not that Sunny minded. Kato kept her busy and she was a funny and interesting little kid. Her determination to fit the round block into the triangle hole of her block toy was always sure to bring a good laugh.



One afternoon Sunny had decided it would be fun to teach Kato a nursery rhyme.

"Three blind mice, three blind mice, see how they....damn that hurts." Sunny began singing and then clutched her stomach.

Kato giggled and clapped her hands. "Damn! Damn!" She chimed.

Sunny grimaced. "Honey, Mommy used a bad word. You shouldn't say that- Ahhh!"

Kato giggled again and screamed like her mom.



Sunny stood up and gripped her stomach. The baby was coming! She groaned, Liam wasn't even home this time. She was going to have to do this alone, well, mostly alone. Little Kato wasn't too interested.

"Kato bored now Mommy. Kato play with Pickle?"

"I don't care what you do!"



Sunny had hoped things would be easier the second time aruond but she was wrong. Little Kali had fought her way out just as painfully as her sister had. Sunny smiled down at her new daughter and sighed happily. Kali had her eyes. It was wonderful to see a little bit of herself in her new daughter.



Sunny quickly pulled out Kato's old mobile and place Kali on it then she settled down on the floor with her daughters to wait for Liam to get home from work.



Later that evening after Liam had spent some time with Kali, and put Kato to sleep he settled onto the couch with Sunny.

"Dear, I love you, and I love the girls but let's make a deal." Sunny nodded hesitantly. "If you get pregnant again, please tell me right away." He grinned at Sunny's shocked expression.

"You mean you want more children?"

Liam shrugged. "More, I'm not averse to more children."



He grinned impishly. "Besides, I love making them with you."

Sunny felt a swell of school-girl love and giggled. "Yea, that part's not so bad."

Liam's grin spread farther across his face and he gathered Sunny into a passionate embrace. "One more thing," he whispered. "I want some time, just you and me."



Sunny was determined to give Liam the time he had asked for but the next several months were very busy. Newborns demanded a lot of time and Liam worked long hours with few days off. Sunny wanted to try to have at least one more child but Liam was adamant about his deal. A whole day with Sunny to himself. Sunny didn't know what to do and she was lamenting to Jack about it one day when he solved the problem.

"Honey, I'm perfectly capable of watching two small children."

Sunny frowned. "I would hate to impose Jack."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Don't be stupid. How hard can it be? Change the diaper, give them a bottle, give Kato that block toy and Kali that dangley thing." He waved his hand. "Ptchu, piece of cake."



He wasn't joking. It would be a piece of cake. Kali would sleep most of the afternoon away and Pickle always took the brunt of Kato's energy. Pickle pretending to mind, but secretly, she loved all the attention, and it was attention Kato was more than willing to give.



So Sunny and Liam finally managed to make it downtown for some much needed alone time. And just time spent away from the kids.

They goofed off and took silly pictures in the photobooth.



Liam tried to learn to break dance. It was a mostly failed endeavour, and Sunny could see that from the beginning to she tried her hand at roller skating instead.



Then they spent the rest of the afternoon cuddled up on the grass watching the clouds float across the sky and enjoying the breeze coming off the ocean.



It had been a good day but it was time to get home. Sunny was eager to see the kids and truth be told so was Liam and Jack was feeling a little eager to be back to the peace and quiet of his apartment.

"Thanks so much for doing this Jack."

Jack shrugged and patted Liam's shoulder. "You two needed some time together. It was no big deal."

Sunny snuggled Kali into her shoulder and smiled at Jack. "All the same, we appreciate it."



Kato's toddlerhood was quickly drawing to a close and Liam realized he rarely got to spend any time with her so he made a renewed effort to play with her every day. Often this just involved singing the improvised nursery ryhme Sunny had come up with the day Kali was born.



Despite Liam's secret desire for Kali and Kato to stay his little girls forever, they had to grow up, and it was a happy coincidence that the girls ended up sharing a birthday.



Kato grew into a boyish but charming little girl who loved the colour green. And bubbles.



And Kali was definitely going to be the delicate flower of the family. She was instantly drawn to pinks and dresses, even if she did have her father's nose.



It had been a busy day for the whole family and Kato groggily climbed into bed.

"Kali, tomorrow I get to go to school like a big girl." She called to her sleeping sister across the room. "I'm going to learn all sorts of things. Just you wait. I'm going to learn about elephants, and spiders, and space, and bugs, and creepy crawlies and aliens and rhinos and Africa." She pulled the covers up around her chin and fell asleep with a smile on her face, thinking about all the things she was going to discover in school the next day.



In the next room Liam and Sunny was just falling asleep as well. Of course, they weren't thinking about elephants, space or Africa, they were just thinking it was nice to fall asleep in each other's arms, with their children happy and healthy in the next room.



School turned out to be a bit of a disappointment for Kato. Her teachers wanted her to learn about things like adverbs and nouns and pronouns. Or numbers and addition and subtraction. These were not things she cared about it. She wanted to learn about adventure, and the wild, and space. Preferably all at the same time.



She was however thrilled with friends. She hadn't really met anyone other than her family and Jack in her life and now she had a classroom full of other children to play with. She would often bring new friends home every day, much to Liam and Sunny chagrin.



Kali however was content to play by herself, or with her stuffed cow. She was a much less excitable child than her sister had been and Sunny was pleased that she never had to worry about what Kali had gotten in to. If she couldn't find Kali, she was most likely in her room playing with the cow. Or with Pickle.



On days when no one could come home with her, Kato would play with Jack. Jack was a little surprised by Kato's enthusiasm for being his friend, but he was also pleasantly surprised by it.

"Mr. Jack, Mr. Jack!"

"What is it now Kato?"

"Can we play catch? Can we can we can we can weeee!??" Kato was practically bouncing around him.

Jack smiled. "Alright kid, grab the base ball and let's go."



"Are you ready for this Mr. Jack? I'm going to throw this ball all the way to Pluto!" Kato exclaimed.

Jack laughed and nodded. "Alright, I don't think I can catch it then, but give it a try."



Kato's arm wasn't nearly as good as she bragged but Jack certainly didn't mind. Picking up a dropped ball a few feet away was easier than finding a ball on Pluto.



Life was pretty good with Liam and his family. Kato was energetic but not much of a handful. When she wasn't with friends or Jack she was playing "extreme" games on the computer. Or talking their ears off at dinner, and Kali was a quiet and happy girl. This left Sunny and Liam plenty of time to spend alone.



Which of course led to an expanding belly in Sunny's case.



Sunny told Liam right away, as she promised, and he accepted the news with a smile and a nod. Sunny thought that was the end of it until a few days later Liam asked her to sit down and have a talk with him.

"Alright, this is hard for me okay, so I'd like you to keep that in mind. I never really thought of myself as the family type. I didn't want kids and I didn't want a serious partner." He paused and glanced at the picture of Kato and Kali on the wall "But, here I am, in a serious relationship and with two little girls." He smiled. "And it's not as bad as I expected. In fact, I kind of like it." Sunny smiled and opened her mouth to say something but Liam held up his hand. "Not finished. I like it, but that doesn't mean all the negative feelings or thoughts I had about marriage are gone. I still have...I've had to overcome my nature. But I'm willing to do that for you."



He pulled a black box from his pocket and set it on the table. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, Sunny, will you marry me?"



Sunny grabbed the box and squealed. "Liam are you serious?" Liam nodded. Sunny took the ring out of the box and slipped it on her finger. "Can I make a condition?"

Liam frowned. "You're making a condition?"

Sunny smiled to reassure him. "I want to marry you. But, after this baby is born I want to move out of this apartment. It's getting cramped, and with another person it will be more cramped. So, can we get married after the baby, and a new home?"

Liam grinned. "I'm happy to wait for you darling. More than happy."



Sunny spent the next few months walking on clouds. Liam actually wanted to marry her! Of course, she still had responsibilities that she couldn't ignore.

"Mom! Mom! Mom mom mom mom mom! Guess what?! Mom?! MOM!!"

"I think azaleas would be a nice touch. Or what about hydrangeas. I do love hydrangeas, they're so big and pretty. I could get a dress with one of those big skirts. It could be all fluffly and soft." Sunny sighed and the imagery her little inner monologue inspired.



She did however snap out of her happy reverie in time for Kali's birthday. It was time for the little princess to join the little explorer in childhood.



Kali quickly styled her hair in a fashion she liked and changed into something pink before anyone could see her in anything sub par. She was ready to tackle school, and like her sister, was hoping she would learn a lot about animals. Although, no elephants or rhinos or anything dangerous like that. She was more interested in puppies, and bunnies, and kittens, and birds. She was even playing with the idea of being a vet. Of course, she would only be a vet for baby animals. They were the cutest.



It was around this time that the kids noticed a strange thing happening to their mom. When her and Liam had gone on their date, Sunny had met a peculiar woman. This woman was now showing up around the house all the time, talking quietly with Sunny and sparkling everywhere. Kali thought it was amazing, and she hoped that some day she could glitter, but Kato found it annoying. She didn't want girly sparkly dust all over the place.



The kids didn't realize of course that Sunny had met the high witch of Pearson Bay and was currently learning all the magical lore and skills that the high witch could teach her. Although, Sunny was of the same mind as Kato. She wasn't interested in leaving sparkly dust everywhere. She'd stick to the middle ground of magic.



With her newfound skills she thought it would be the perfect time to try and get the kids into private school. If the headmaster didn't accept them, she'd turn him into a toad!



"Whooooo! You're pregnant belly is awesome!" Cheered the headmaster.

Liam rolled his eyes. "Yes, she's beautiful and glowing but we were showing you the bedroom."

Sunny shrugged. "He's just weird darling. Let him cheer the baby if he wants to." She said, as if the headmaster wasn't right there.



"So Mr and Mrs. Wright, you have a lovely home and the children are marvelously well behaved but I must ask a question."

Liam shrugged. "Okay."

"I noticed the children are named Steele, not Wright, why is that?"

Liam and Sunny exchanged an awkward glance. "Oh." Sunny finally spoke up. "We're not married, the children just took my last name."

The headmaster looked pointedly at Sunny's belly. "You're still not married?"

Liam coughed nervously and laid his hand on Sunny's. "Not yet. We are engaged, but Sunny wanted to wait until the baby arrived." He shrugged. "It's just a piece of paper to us."

"Hmm." The headmaster murmured.



After the awkward exchange at dinner Sunny was convinced the girls wouldn't get into the school, but the headmaster surprised her.

"Ms. Steele, I'd be honoured to have your girls in my school, and your baby whenever he or she makes an appearance."

Sunny stared with her mouth open. "Are you serious?"

The headmaster laughed. "Of course! Look, I don't care if you and Mr. Wright aren't married. You've done a fabulous job raising those girls and as long as you pay your tuition I think your family will be a fine addition to our school."

Sunny gripped his hand and shook it furiously. "Oh thank you so much!"



The next morning Sunny got up early to make breakfast for the kids to celebrate, and she headed out to the balcony to have her morning tea. Of course, all the excitement from the night before must have triggered something because before she knew it, the baby was on it's way!



It was shockingly easy this time and withint moments Sunny and Liam were welcoming their newest addition. A little boy named Calen.

Liam was thrilled to have a son and he, as usual, spent a lot of time with the new sproglet.



Liam remembered Sunny's wish to move into their own home and had spent the weeks leading up to Calen's birth scouring the market looking for the perfect home. Then he found it. It wasn't very large but it was just right for them. Each of the kids could have their own bedroom, and Liam and Sunny could have their own private porch. There was a nice yard to run around in and it was just up from the beach so the kids could go explore a bit if they wanted.



So Liam hired a moving team and packed everything from the apartment up and the family moved in just a few weeks after Calen was born. It was a long and tiring day but eventually everything was set up and the family felt settled.

"Do you think the kids will like it here?" Sunny asked Liam that night as they sat on their porch.

Liam smiled. "Of course! It's perfect. It's close to their school and their friends, and near the beach. It's beautiful. Much nicer than that cramped little apartment."

Sunny laughed. "It was definitely getting small." She paused. "I will miss Jack though."

Liam hugged her close. "He's not so far away that you can't call him whenever you want."



So the family settled into life in their new home. The girls pursued their respective interests. Kali was in to music and dance. She had moved on from her dream of being a baby animal vet and now wanted to be a ballerina. Kato was still a little adventurer. Every day she changed her mind about what she wanted to be. One day it was an anthropologist, the next day a palentologist, the next day a pirate, and then an astronaut, and then a space pirate! As long as danger was involved, she was there. Of course, she also really enjoyed music. She had been eyeing up a guitar she saw in a store one day at the boardwalk. She knew, as soon as she was a teenager, she was going to ask her parents for it.

Calen was a happy and easy going baby and eventually it was time for his birthday. The whole family gathered and a friend Liam had brought home from work even decided to stick around. Not that a toddler birthday party is all that exciting.



Calen grew up into an adorable and befreckled toddler, much like his sisters. Sunny could already tell he was definitely going to be the baby of the family. Everyone already adored him, and his sisters always wanted to play with him.



Well, they always wanted to "play" with him. To Kato this meant plopping the wriggling toddler on the merry go round and hopping on crying "Warp speed ahead!" as pushed against the ground. She would do this until Calen would tumble off, throw up, and then cry for Sunny. To Kali it meant dressing him up like a doll. Calen didn't mind this one so much, but Kali would always tie bows in his hair and they would get stuck and then Sunny would have to cut them out. He did not like that at all. So he would crawl away from his sisters if he could and they would just have to be content to skip rope and play space ship without him.



Besides, he had Pickle for a friend. Despite Pickle's protestations, she was thrilled to have another toddler to play with.



And Pickle and Calen really were best of friends. Pickle would follow him around all day long, making sure he didn't get in to too much trouble, and gobbling up any scaps of food Calen would drop.



Calen was a little individual as well. His sisters loved adventure, and dance respectively. He was going to be an engineer. He loved to build the highest and biggest towers he could with his block. This usually meant stacking on block on top of the other until he had a skinny, wobbly tower that would topple over on him, but he was thrilled with it.



Sunny was content to let him build his wobbly little towers. She was busy working on a new spell. She had heard about it from her mentor and spent many nights over her cauldron trying to get the mix of ingredients just right.



Calen also had Liam wrapped around his finger. Liam would spent hours placing Calen on the Llama toy in the front yard. Or extricating bows from his hair. Or cleaning up scraps and bruises Calen sustained from being hurled from a "space ship" travelling at "light speed". Liam didn't mind any of this. He was shocked to find how much he enjoyed his children. Calen was a sweetheart and Liam loved watching him learn new things. Kali was a gem and her sweet heart really touched Liam. And Kato was a bundle of energy and laughs and she never failed to surprise Liam.



"Aha! Success!" Cried a triumphant Sunny.

The spell she had been trying to perfect finally worked. She had summoned a familiar.



This particular familiar was a see through cat that had orange sparkles and an odd name. The cat had come with the name, Sunny's Familiar. Not very original, so Sunny shortened it to simply SF. She had always wanted a cat, and although she loved Pickle, a supernatural cat was pretty cool.



SF was less in to the cuddles than Pickle was. Calen was delighted by the sparkling cat but SF did not enjoy Calen's enthusiasm. Her spectral fur was always sticky and he made her sparkles dull with his dirty little hands. Of course, she endured Calen's attentions without scratching his eyes out. Barely.



Liam understood that SF was far less interested in cuddles and attention than Pickle was so he would always try and rescue the spectral cat. Calen didn't mind. If he couldn't play with SF he was taken outside to play on the llama, so it was a win win for him.



With the introduction of SF Liam was concerned that Pickle would feel lonely. So he tried to make a point of spending time with her. He knew Pickle wasn't very friendly with SF.



"Alright boy, I'm going to throw this one hard so you better run fast! Are you gonna run fast? Are you? Yes you are! You're such a good girl."

Pickle didn't care about the baby talk. She just wanted the stick.



It was birthday time once again in the Wright/Steele house. This time Kato was going to be a teenager. She was thrilled.

"I can finally get that guitar!" She thought to herself, pleased with the prospect.



She decided to keep her look very similar after her birthday. She still wanted a short bob style, but felt something a littler darker and more adult would be better. She also had to have a green shirt. It was like, law or something.



Although she did manage to talk her parents in to buying her the guitar for her birthday, she was surprised to find she had a real passion for photography. Sunny had an old camera lying around that had belonged to her father. Kato found it one day well exploring and wanted to try it. After that she was hooked. She was constanty yelling "Cheese!" or "Smile!" or, even worse, doing what she called covert photography. This usually resulted in embarassing pictures that her family begged her to destroy.



With Kato a teenager and too busy to play with her anymore, and Calen still a toddler Kali found herself spending a lot of time alone. She didn't mind, and it was too new to her. She could have still played with Calen but her parents had put a stop to dress up time, and she could have been a photography guinea pig for Kato but that wasn't something Kali was interested in. So instead, she practiced her ballet or her painting, and she played by herself.



She was also a huge Daddy's girl. She would wait outside for Liam to get home from work every single day and she would pounce on him with a big squeeze as soon as she was out of his car. Liam didn't mind. It lifted his heart just that little bit every time Kali threw her arms around his neck and squeezed for all she was worth.



And to be fair to Kato, she did spend time with Kali that didn't involved cameras or adventure. Sometimes the girls would just hang out in the playroom (which, unfortunately for Calen was also his bedroom) and talk.

"Kato, when I'm big like you I'm going to  be the best dancer ever. I'm going to be world famous."

"Kali, don't be stupid." Kato scoffed. "Just because you're big doesn't mean you'll automatically be famous. You need to work at it." She paused. "I think you could do it though. I really do."

Kali's eyes lit up. 'You mean it?" Kato nodded and Kali found herself dreaming of all the possibilites.



With Kato being a teen and Calen and Kali being fairly solitary kids, Sunny found she had a lot more time on her hands. She enjoyed spending her free time perfecting her magic but she was starting to get a little bored. It felt like, since moving in with Liam, she had just spent all of her time pregnant. She'd quit her job and raised her kids and now they didn't really need her anymore. Calen had already learned to walk, talk and he was potty trained. Liam had taken it upon himself to help the girls with their homework. The kids wouldn't even let her cook anymore! Her zeal for grilled cheese had made them decide to nominate Dad as the official household cook.



So Sunny decided that the best thing to do would be to get a job. She found a job at a gym teaching aerobercise. She wasn't exactly sure how that worked out. She was not athletic, but the classes were fun and she was noticing that she was becoming a little more fit, so she was pleased.



Of course, with both Liam and Sunny working now, there was no one to run interference between SF and Pickle. This resulted in the occasional pet brawl in the kitchen, but neither got hurt. At least not too seriously. SF wasn't seen for a few days after the fight, but she came back eventually.



All of Liam's time spent helping the kids with their homework was also paying off. Kali came home one day with an A+ report card and she was ecstatic about it.



Unfortunately her thunder may have been stolen a little bit by the fact that it was Calen's birthday. But Kali didn't mind. Liam and Sunny were both at work so it was just the three kids there to witness Calen's transition into the next stage of life.



"Kali, you going to eat that piece of cake?"

Calen was lucky everyone liked him so much. Kali rolled her eyes. "You can have it. But only because it's your birthday."

Calen flashed her a bright grin and grabbed the cake off the plate. Gobbling it down in two seconds flat. "Thanks! See ya!"



He bounded off to this room to play with his blocks while Kali stared at the empty plate. "He ate that in like two seconds. Did you see that Kato?"

Kato closed the dishwasher and giggled. "He's a boy, what do you expect?" She shrugged and sat down by Kali. "He's bound to do weird things."



Well, that's it for this update. I'll leave you with a shot of Kato's photography. It's all over the house.

I hope you guy enjoyed the update, I'm hoping to be done playing them all to adult within the next few days. I'll post an heir poll after that and then I'll write my last chapter and ship the heir off to Cherith. So keep an eye out for that. Thanks for reading guys!