Chapter 77 Damon's a Good Babysitter
The kitchen door swung open again, but this time, the air that followed wasn't filled with panic or the smell of sick. It was scented with lavender baby wash and fresh cotton.
Elana walked in, looking unruffled despite the earlier chaos. Perched on her hip was Briar, who had been scrubbed pink, changed into a fresh, soft yellow onesie, and looked entirely pleased with herself.
"Delivery for the Mama," Elana announced softly, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she saw Leela sitting up and eating toast. "Clean, dry, and smelling like a flower instead of a compost heap."
"Hi, Momma's baby," Leela cooed, her voice thick with emotion.
She reached out, her hands steady now, and took her daughter from Elana. She pulled Briar close, burying her nose in the baby's damp curls, inhaling the scent of safety. She kissed Briar’s chubby, soft cheeks, blowing a gentle raspberry against her skin.
Briar shrieked with delight, blowing a wet, happy raspberry right back, bubbles forming on her lips.
Leela laughed, wiping the drool away with her thumb, but as she looked up at her mother-in-law, her smile wavered into something deeper and more vulnerable. The reality of having four children under the age of two was terrifying, but looking at Elana—who had just stepped in without hesitation to clean up the mess—made the terror manageable.
"Elana," Leela said, her voice trembling slightly. She shifted Briar so she could look the older woman in the eye. "I really want to tell you... that I really do love you. And thank you. For everything you do for me, and for the babies. I don't think I could do this without you."
Elana’s expression softened instantly. She reached across the granite island. She didn't just take Leela's hand; she reached out and took Ginny’s hand too, linking the three of them together in a chain of warmth.
"Stop that right now," Elana commanded gently, giving their hands a squeeze. "You do not thank someone for giving you love. That is not how this family works."
She looked at Ginny, then at Leela, her gaze fierce and proud.
"You two," Elana said, her voice thick with sincerity. "You have walked into this house and made my boys happier than I ever thought they could be. You gave them purpose, you gave them peace, and you gave them a future. That makes me and Damon happier than any 'thank you' ever could."
Elana smiled, leaning in to kiss Leela’s forehead, then Ginny’s.
"Besides," she winked, pulling back. "If you really want to thank me, you can name one of the new ones 'Elana'. I'm just saying. It has a nice ring to it."
Leela hefted Briar higher on her hip, wincing slightly as the baby’s weight settled against her side. The toast and tea had helped, but the exhaustion was still lurking at the edges of her vision.
"I gotta go find my other baby," Leela murmured, looking toward the hallway. Through the open window, she could still hear the low rumble of Fennigan and Jax’s voices on the porch, likely rehashing the "pregnant together" misunderstanding for the third time.
Elana wiped a smudge of formula off the counter. "I left Caspian with Damon in the Great Room. He insisted on taking him while I cleaned Briar up. He was reading to him out of some leather-bound encyclopedia like the baby knew what he was talking about. I think he was on the chapter about 'Strategic Border Defenses'."
Leela smiled, shaking her head. "Light reading for a ten-month-old."
She walked out of the kitchen, her bare feet silent on the hardwood runner. Ginny and Elana trailed behind her, drawn by the sudden quiet of the house.
The Great Room was dim, lit only by the dying embers of the fire in the massive stone hearth and a single reading lamp next to the Alpha’s favorite armchair.
Leela stopped in the archway, and her breath hitched in her throat.
Damon Blackwood, the retired Alpha who had once terrified entire Council meetings with a single growl, was fast asleep. His head was tipped back against the leather headrest, his glasses slipping down his nose, and his mouth slightly open in a soft snore. The heavy book—The Treaties of the Northern Territories—was resting precariously on his chest, rising and falling with his breath.
But it was the sight next to him that made Leela’s heart squeeze.
Damon had pulled the large, overstuffed ottoman right up next to his chair, creating a makeshift bed. Curled up in the center of it, surrounded by pillows to keep him from rolling off, was Caspian.
The baby was mirroring his grandfather perfectly. His head was tipped back, his mouth was slightly open, and one chubby arm was thrown over his eyes in a gesture of dramatic exhaustion.
"Oh," Leela whispered, the sound barely escaping her lips. "Look at them."
Elana stepped up beside her, leaning against the doorframe. She looked at her mate and her grandson, and her face softened into a look of pure, unguarded love.
"Like grandfather, like grandson," Elana murmured. "Neither of them could make it past the introduction."
Briar, seeing her brother and her grandfather, let out a loud, happy squeal. "Bah!"
Damon snorted awake, catching the book before it slid to the floor. He blinked rapidly, adjusting his glasses, while Caspian just rolled over and sighed, sleeping right through the noise.
"I wasn't sleeping," Damon lied instantly, his voice gravelly with sleep. "I was... meditating on the text."
"Sure you were, my love." Elana kissed her husband lightly, then turned her sights to Caspian laying in the pillow. "Look, Damon, doesn't he look just like Fennigan. Oh, he is so beautiful." She picked him up and snuggled him up to her.
Briar wanted Elana when she seen her pick up her brother, so, Leela and Elana exchanged babies. Caspian slept through everything. "Sleeps like his daddy too. I think Caspian could sleep through the world exploding." She kissed his tiny little face.