Family Time

If u want 2 see ur niece, get ur ass over here! Lain hit the send button on her phone and tossed it onto the small table that served her for all meals. Reaching into the crib, the woman lifted her four month old daughter in her arms.

"Hey, love," she cooed softly, holding the baby close. "Uncle Eli's coming today. If he isn't busy, again." Lainey frowned. She was worried about her brother and his fiancee. In fact, the news that Kallie had been kidnapped had plagued the young woman with nightmares of her own kidnapping, or being trapped in that little room... forced to perform magic... studied...

She shook her head to dislodge that train of thought. The breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding came out in a great whoosh.

"If he isn't busy..." Lainey repeated softly.

Eli apparated on the sidewalk, surrounded by some of the ungodliest buildings in London. He felt a buzzing in his pocket, and took out the phone Lainey had forced him to buy.

The screen had lit up so that an array of buttons appeared on the screen. He frowned, trying to remember which one was the button for text messages. He started walking down the street towards his sister's house, all the while scrolling and unclicking and clicking random buttons, until he reached her door.

He knocked, still looking down at his phone. Finally, he found the right button, and opened Lainey's message, walking into the house as he did so. "If u want 2 see ur niece..."

Putting the phone back into his pocket, he looked around, muttering, "What is ur?" His eyes landed on the other people in the room, and the man's face lit up, "Tirian!"

Lainey turned as the door to the flat opened, mind automatically highlighting the locations of various items used as weapons about her flat. It proved unnecessary, however. The redhead's face lit up as her green eyes fixed upon her brother.

"ELI!" she exclaimed, rushing over to him and wrapping one arm around him in a hug. "I wasn't sure you would make it, today."

The woman offered the infant to him. "Do you want to hold Rion?" Lainey asked knowingly.

Eli laughed as she hugged him, "Well, I've been working so much they had to give me a break sometime."

Besides, he thought, his smile fading just a tinge, We're no further along than we were a month ago. Me leaving for a couple of hours shouldn't make much of a difference at all.

He reinforced his smile as he picked up Tirian, "Of course! She's only my favorite person in the world." He looked down at her, then back up at his sister, "I still don't know how you managed to make something this cute."

Lainey gave a little frown. She knew what that look in his eyes meant. Giving his shoulder an encouraging squeeze, she remained silent, knowing that simply show of solidarity was the best response she could give.

She grinned as the man took Tirion in his arms, then gave an indignant scoff at his remark. "OI!" Lainey protested hotly, slapping his arm. Placing a gentle kiss on her daughter's cheek, she turned away.

"You want anything to drink?" Lainey offered. "There's... juice? Water - always. Tea?" She shot an inquiring look over her shoulder, half-certain he didn't hear her, anyway.

Eli gave Lainey a grateful look. He always felt so at home when he was around her. Even after being away from each other for more than a decade, she knew him, probably better than anyone else in the world. After all these years, he was still the same Eli.

He laughed as Lainey hit him on the arm, looking down at the small bundle in his arms. She was just so perfect, so innocent. Part of him felt so sad, because he knew that she wouldn't always be like this, and he couldn't protect her from life... From the way things were now, he couldn't seem to protect anybody from anything.

Lost in his thoughts as he held Tirian, Lainey's words were almost lost on him, "Oh-uhhh..." he tried to remember what she had said, "I'd love some tea, thanks."

Tirion gazed up at the man now holding her, large brown eyes seeming to study his face, a tiny fist in her mouth. She cooed, giving him a slobbery smile. Then, the infant made a grab for his nose.

Meanwhile, Lainey was already halfway through putting on the tea kettle. "You're getting predictable," the redhead teased. "You know what that means, yeah? It means you're getting old. Old, old man." She grinned impishly at him, pausing to grab a set of play keys from Tirion's playpen on her way back to him.

Once given the keys, Tirion gave them a few good shakes before throwing them on the floor. As they clattered against the rug, she gave a delighted little squeal, kicking her feet excitedly.

Eli scrunched up his face as the slobbery hand grabbed hold of his nose. He always forgot just how strong infants were. He shook his head just the slightest bit to dislodge her, but she only gave a toothless smile as he did so, her hand still firmly gripping his nose.

As he looked up to see Lainey enter the room, Tirian's hand slipped off of his face. He gave a playfully sarcastic smile, then looked down at the infant in his arms, "You know, when I was your age, we didn't get to sleep in cribs. Our beds were made of rocks. In caves."

"And," he said as she played with the keys, "We didn't get keys for entertainment. Just more rocks." He laughed and adjusted his arms so that the infant wouldn't kick herself off of him, "You know... If your mommy lets me," he glanced at his sister, a small smile on his face, "I might be able to show you a real magic trick. It'll knock those keys out of the water."

Lainey laughed, even as Tirion watched the man as he spoke, as though intently taking in every word. In a way, the infant was doing just that, learning just a bit more about speech by listening to her uncle speak. Her fist went back to her mouth, the other curling around the collar of his shirt.

The redhead shifted a bit, teeth worrying her bottom lip momentarily. She walked briskly back to the kitchenette and the kettle began to whistle.

"Just... make it someone small, yeah?" Lainey said. She still wasn't wholly comfortable with the whole magic thing. Granted, she was getting there, slowly but surely.

"All right, fine." Eli grinned as he set the baby down on the sofa, "Okay, watch this." He took his wand out of his pocket, Tirian's eyes following it closely. He kneeled down in front of her and pointed his wand towards the ceiling.

After muttering an incantation, smoke began pouring out of his wand and towards the floor. A few seconds later, the smoke changed direction and pooled in a sphere above the wand. The sphere sprouted legs and a head. Eventually, it had formed into a smoky-gray kitten, which pounced through the air, playing with an invisible ball of string and mewing intermittently.

"See?" Eli said with a smile as he steered the little cat with his wand, "It's small."

Lainey gave a small smile. It was pretty cute, and Tirion absolutely loved it.

"I used to beg you to try to do stuff," she said musingly. "Remember that? You couldn't, of course. You couldn't control it and mum and dad-" The woman broke off abruptly, biting her lip and shaking her head.

Pouring two cups of tea, she made her way over to him, setting one on the coffee table and offering the other to him. Lainey seated herself carefully beside Tirion, before pulling the infant into her lap, cuddling her close.

"Yeah," Eli said with a small chuckle, remembering the time that he... The smile turned into a grimace as he looked back down at the floor. It seemed that all the memories in his childhood had a certain shadow cast over them. It didn't make the good memories any less good, it just succeeded in reminding him of the bad.

He took the tea in his hands, giving his sister a small smile as he did so. He noticed the way she looked down at her daughter, and decided that Lainey would be a fantastic mother. Not because she was particularly responsible, or because she was experienced. The girl had a head on her shoulders, and, most importantly, she would do anything to protect the people she loved.

Eli knew for a fact that even though she wasn't surrounded by a big family, or a steady source of income, Tirian was the luckiest child in the world.