"I-is she okay?" Severa asked, her voice shaky with tiredness from what she'd just endured. "Why hasn't my little girl started screaming? Is something wrong?" Not getting any answers, and panic beginning to overtake her, she sucked in a deep breath and yelled, "Damn it, someone answer me! What's wrong with my baby? W-what's wrong with her?"

The doctors still didn't answer her, but one of them did leave the table's side with the infant in hand, bringing her over to her panicked mother's side before laying her carefully on what was visible of Severa's chest. The child lay still for a few tense moments, while both parents looked at her with worry and concern, until she let out a strong, piercing cry that brought them both sighs of relief. "See, nothing's wrong," Brady managed to choke out, hand over his mouth to try keeping himself from crying. "She just got shy or somethin' and didn't want to cry right away. No big deal."

"No big deal…? She could have been dead!" Running a finger over the fine blue hair on her child's head, Severa tried to sound calm but was clearly still panicked. "She could have been dead and everything could have been a total waste!"

"But she's not dead, so let's worry about that now, yeah?" Never before had Brady felt so compelled to look at someone than he did right then, staring at the small newborn curled up on her mother's chest. "She's perfect, Sev. Nothin' wrong with her from what I can tell."

"And that's what matters." Still stroking her head, Severa slowly worked down to running that finger over other parts of the child's body, touching her back and hands and looking incredibly content as she did. "I can't imagine what it would have been like if something was wrong," she said with a soft laugh, not wanting to disturb the child with any sort of movement. "We really would have freaked out."

He lowered his hand, now trying not to laugh while he could feel tears building up in his eyes. "Oh yeah, like ya didn't freak out anyway," he replied, reaching out towards the child, sticking one of his fingers in one of her tiny hands so that she could latch onto it. "Hey, I think she likes me!" He tried tugging his hand away but couldn't bear to possibly disappoint or even upset her by moving his finger. "Perfect little Lunabel, got her hold on me already."

"Like she should, definitely." Severa was still checking everything about her child, making her way down one spindly leg and finding a small foot with all toes properly in place. "She's got her hold on me too, and has for the longest—" Her sentence stopped dead in its tracks with a loud gasp, followed by her asking, "What the hell is wrong with my baby's foot?" All the chatter between the doctors came to a standstill as they looked over at her, where she was grabbing Lunabel's small foot and staring at it in shock. "What the fuck is wrong with her foot?" she repeated, not letting go. "It's twisted and not bending and not right!"'

"Okay, we already said nothing was wrong with her, why do ya have to keep actin' like something is?" Brady got up from his chair, half-expecting for Severa to just tell him to sit back down to put an end to her cruel joke, but when she looked to him with horror and mouthed her question to him once more, it slowly sank in that she wasn't joking. As carefully as they possibly could, they turned the child just enough that he could see what she was referring to; in comparison to her other foot, Lunabel's left foot was curved in to the inside, looking like her ankle was completely flat on its side. She didn't seem to notice that anything was wrong with it, as she was just giving small whimpers where she lay, but there was something clearly wrong, and they needed an explanation for it.

"I'll ask one more time," Severa started, grabbing Lunabel's foot to try and show the gathered doctors what she was talking about, but the sudden motion was enough to get the girl to begin crying loudly. Rather than being able to force out the answer she was looking for, the new mother had to instead calm her crying baby, feelings of guilt for making her cry and anger for not knowing what was going on filling her as she did. By the time the baby was calmed once more, the doctor who had brought her over was trying to take her away for more observations, which Severa only allowed if, and only if, they told her what was wrong with the child's foot right away.

It wasn't guaranteed but she was told it would happen as soon as they knew, and so after being kissed farewell by both parents (one unhappy and one crying), the little baby was picked up and carried back over to the table, which was rolled out of the room. "I didn't believe somethin' was wrong until ya showed me it," Brady said, covering his mouth with his hands in disbelief. "Maybe she's just holdin' her foot weird and it'll fix itself on its own."

"I know what I saw, Brady, and it wasn't her holding it weird. There was something very, totally, undeniably wrong with her foot. I didn't think it would happen, but it did." Looking around at the now-empty room, before turning to see Brady taking his seat once more, Severa let out a long sigh, moving one hand to grab the tube sticking out of her arm. "And now that I'm completely done here, let's just leave."

"I'm not lettin' ya do that, Sev!" He reached over and pulled her hand away, at which she huffed and turned her head away from him. "We've got to just stay here until you're told to leave. Hopefully that'll be with a perfectly fine Lunabel, but however it's going to happen, it's not happenin' right now. No one's even come to visit yet."

"Oh, right, because I so want people coming to visit me here." She rolled her eyes, her hand creeping back towards yanking on the tube but being stopped once more. "I'm a mess, no one wants to see me in this state, and the reason everyone would want to come is a broken child that is going to disappoint everyone when they see her!"

He had a retort catch in his throat, something he was going to say but thought better of when he heard how honest she was being with her thoughts. She truly thought that something was wrong with her child, therefore making her imperfect, and it was clearly getting to her. So rather than retorting, he calmly said, "Sev, just because somethin' might be wrong with her doesn't mean she's broken. We're still going to love her, because she's our baby and we want her."

"You might want her, but I want a baby that isn't flawed." She gave another long sigh, sitting up in the bed a bit. "I didn't think it was possible that she wouldn't be perfect. Never once thought about that. But for me to hold her and for her to be so not what I was expecting, it hurts. It really hurts, B. And I don't want to deal with it."

"So you're sayin' you want nothin' to do with her?" His words were catching in his throat still, although not due to reluctance in speaking; he knew that what he had to say was plenty important, but just the idea of Severa giving up their child because of this was bringing nothing but pain to him, causing him to choke up. "Sev, I can't let ya do that. She's ours, not someone else's, and it doesn't matter if there's one thing or a million things wrong with her, we're takin' care of her because she's still perfect."

"She's not perfect, and that's the problem!" Balling one hand into a fist, Severa closed her eyes and took a few quick breaths before halfheartedly swinging a punch over in Brady's direction, missing him completely but making her point that she wasn't going to listen to him reassure her things were fine. "We wanted a child with ten working fingers and ten working toes, not one with a foot that doesn't seem to work at all! You can't tell me that she's still perfect when she's broken like that!"

He watched as she took another swing at him, missing once again, before falling backwards in her bed, a deep scowl on her face. She didn't say anything else, not even when he became overwhelmed with tears, crying rather than being able to speak, and so they sat there, her stewing in her anger and him bawling like a young child, for what felt like forever. The first interruption to them was a nurse coming in to check on Severa, who did her duties quickly but held no news on the child's condition, and the second interruption was a breathless Maribelle nearly running into the room, arms filled with balloons, flowers, and gifts. She took one look between the couple, at how Severa still looked absolutely furious with the world and at how Brady was still crying, and her heart sank.

"Please, by all means, tell me that everything involving the birth went fine," she pleaded, setting down some of her gifts on the counter. "I assumed it was so due to the little placard on the door, but based on how you two are acting…I didn't believe that I would miss anything because of work, but I got held up by something that never ends and got here as fast as I could."

"Everythin' went fine, Ma." His voice was wavering, but Brady at least had the courtesy to try and lock eyes with his mother, who was now looking more concerned by the second. "It's just that, uh, somethin' was a bit wrong, and now—"

"My baby was flawed," Severa spat, her eyes still tightly closed as she continued laying in the bed. "Broken like I did something wrong to her when I didn't."

Her heart sank further, and Maribelle stumbled backwards a small bit, catching herself against the wall with one hand over her heart. "Oh, gods no, what was wrong with the little angel? She will live, right?"

"Ma, it wasn't that bad," Brady tried saying, but Severa shushed him before he could get any other words out.

"It was simply the worst! First of all, she didn't cry until I got to hold her, which was so scary because babies are supposed to cry!" Severa opened her eyes, now glaring over at Maribelle, who was still against the wall trying to collect herself as she heard the news. "But once she was crying and okay, I was admiring how adorable she was for being something that seriously just came out from between my legs, and I got to her foot and it was hideously disfigured! Like someone just kind of took it and twisted it all wrong!"

Eyes widening, Maribelle stepped forward from the wall and placed her hands on the end of the bed, before grabbing one of Severa's feet and twisting it to demonstrate. "You mean, something like this?" she asked, once she had the foot in as close to the position as she could. Peering over to see, Severa nodded when she saw that it was roughly what she had seen on her daughter, and the answer made Maribelle bite her lip in thought as she tried to think of how to react to this development. She let go of the foot in her hands and pulled her arms to her sides, pacing around the room in thought for a moment, before sighing and just going for the explanation. "My dear, I cannot believe no one told you that was a possibility with her. They can detect that sort of thing long before birth. Why, they did when…" She coughed, stopping herself from continuing that sentence. "My point is, they could have and should have let you know this was a possibility."

"They might have, I don't remember. It's been a long day though, and I don't care to think back on all the stupid appointments I went to where they probably didn't bother telling me my baby wasn't going to be perfect." Severa rolled her eyes, before pointing at Maribelle. "Now finish what you were saying. They did when, what?"

"It was nothing, just a stray thought. You're completely right in this being a long day, however, and I believe that means you should rest. I'll just make myself comfortable until the time comes where they bring my precious granddaughter in here and I can meet her for the first time." Maribelle was eyeing one of the other chairs in the room, ones further back from the bedside, and as she made her way over to one she grabbed the balloons she'd brought and carried them over with her, handing them to Brady when she was beside him. "Here, these are equal parts for you and dear Lunabel. After all, it is both of your birthdays."

"Yeah, sure is," he replied, looking up at the mix of generic "happy birthday" balloons as well as newborn baby ones. "Kind of really can't believe that part of all this. Just like I can't believe she's actually alive, if even 'broken' like Sev keeps sayin' she is."

Maribelle stopped walking, before going straight back to in front of Brady, leaning over to kiss his forehead gently. "She's not broken, and I'm sure soon Severa will stop saying that, when she realizes how fixable this problem is. She's working herself up over nothing too terrible, and it'll come to her eventually."

"And if it doesn't?" He looked from the balloons over to Severa, who was laying on her side the best she could be, mumbling something to herself. "Ma, I think she's convinced this is a bad thing and that it's the end of the world for Lunabel. Yeah, didn't ask for this to happen, but I can't have my wife hatin' our baby just because something's up with her foot!"

"A mother can never hate her child, no matter how much she acts like she does." Kissing her son's forehead again, Maribelle moved on to her seat in the corner, watching the couple to make sure that they didn't get into any sort of argument over their child's condition while she was present. They didn't, nor did they share any words at all, which was equally worrisome to her.

The next person to come in the door was also bearing gifts, although the small bag that Cordelia held in her hands paled in comparison to everything Maribelle had brought with her. She looked at how everyone was situated, noticing that everyone was separated and not interacting with one another, and she sighed, looking back to the door as if leaving was an option. "Mother, can't believe you actually walked in here like you're wanted," Severa said once she saw Cordelia standing there, which only made her want to turn around and leave before she had the chance to say anything. "What, aren't you going to tell me how this is so stupid that you had to pull away from your super important job and your busy life to come see me?"

"Severa, darling, you know that you matter more than any sort of work could, especially in this circumstance." Cordelia swung the bag she was holding a bit, letting it hit her legs a few times. "Besides, I felt obligated to come by when I got the message that the baby was coming, but it seems I missed the events."

"Join the club." Maribelle motioned towards the seat next to her for Cordelia to sit in, which the red-haired woman did after letting her eyes leave the door. "Why, I must have only been a matter of minutes too late. What a shame that the typical court proceedings for your husband had to take longer today."

Cordelia's face initially lit up when she heard talk of her husband, but her eyes quickly cast downward as she thought about what that meant. "Was he told? This grandchild meant so much to him, and he would have loved to have known…"

"I made sure to let him know today was the day." Maribelle laughed, putting a hand on one of Cordelia's legs and patting it gently. "But that was all I was able to tell him. I think the gravity of the situation, the day where his grandbaby is born being the first day of his months-long sentence, got to him."

"Months-long?" Repeating the words to get a murmur in response, Cordelia's face fell further. "Gods, what have I done? I should have just let him continue breaking those minor laws that no one abides, shouldn't have arrested him for violating probation, shouldn't have prevented him from being here today."

"Oh lovely, looks like my mom finally feels regret for always being there to ruin my dad's life. Too bad that it's too late for any of that." Severa sounded genuinely upset by what she was saying, but she was making sure to not look anywhere near her mother as she spoke. "Just like it's too late to change that I've got a broken baby. We're all screwed over."

Her head perking up, Cordelia went to ask what was meant by talk of a "broken" baby, but Maribelle stopped her before she even got the chance, quietly explaining what she understood everything to be. The two ladies continued talking between each other for quite some time, while the married couple in the room stayed silent, especially in regards to each other. The only times Severa spoke after that were when the nurses came in to check on her, and when one of the mothers asked her a direct question; Brady never once said anything, although he could be heard crying occasionally as different realizations hit him.

"I think we've finally found the place!" The voice caught everyone off guard, most especially the two mothers sitting in the chairs, as Cordelia had been saying something when Maribelle groaned at the new voice. The door to the room came flying open, and a simply enormous bundle of balloons was pushed into the room, being held by one grinning Owain, who was followed by Noire, holding her fair share of goodies. "Only took way too long. Really hope that other lady isn't offended this stuff wasn't for her."

"Who told you we were here?" Brady and Severa both asked simultaneously, before looking at each other with equal parts disgust and enjoyment in their faces. He quickly turned away as punishment for what had just happened, while she continued to talk. "Seriously, you two weren't invited to come see me."

Owain shrugged, letting go of his bundle of balloons so they floated up to the ceiling, the strings dangling down everywhere. "I figured when it was my mother calling to let my father and I know that the precious child was among us, that was my invitation to be here." He gave a thumbs-up over at Maribelle, who sighed and rolled her eyes. "Thanks for telling my mom, Aunt Maribelle. I appreciate it!"

"Yes, well, I had figured she would keep her mouth closed and not tell anyone," she muttered in response, looking to Severa in hopes that she would be forgiven for what she had accidentally let happen.

However, Severa was far too concentrated on glaring at Owain to pay Maribelle any mind. "I can't believe you had the nerve to just walk on in here, uninvited, but I would have forgiven that if you hadn't brought your psycho broad along with you!" The dagger eyes changed their intended recipient, meeting their mark with Noire's surprised face. "That's right, I know you were so trying to make my life terrible with all that stuff you baked me!"

"I didn't want to make it terrible…" Noire buried her face in the stuffed animals she was carrying and gave a loud sob, which quickly was replaced with a cackle that sent shivers down the spines of everyone who hadn't ever heard her personality switch before. "I just wanted to see the perfect little woman who couldn't do any wrong get destroyed by her own gluttony! And while I didn't get the results I could have hoped for, damn it was fun having you beg and plead with me to give you more and more!"

"I won't say I didn't beg and all that, but what are you getting at? I'm talking about how you must have included something in those sweets that caused my baby to be born broken!" Noire unburied her face, an evil grin on her face, but she had no response to what Severa had just said. In fact, no one knew how to exactly respond to that, allowing another silence to fall over everyone.

To break the quiet, Owain coughed, looking up at the balloons collected over his head, before tilting his head a bit to see the balloons Brady was holding. "I'm glad to see that someone else had the brilliant idea to brighten up this place with balloons," he said thoughtfully. "Hospital rooms are quite boring and drab without something so lively."

"Why is he here already?" It was yet another new voice entering the fray, but the speaker quickly pushed her way into the center of the room. "Mother, Brady, I am disappointed in you both for neglecting to let me know what was going on. I am ever-so-thankful that I have an aunt who is willing to share such news with me as she hears it, but…" Lucina looked around at everyone who was there, from Owain staring at balloons to Noire with her creepy grin, from Maribelle looking more and more shocked to Cordelia looking confused, and from Severa, who was still angry with everyone and everything, to Brady, who tried not locking eyes with his sister. "It seems that perhaps my presence here is unwanted. That might explain why I was never told anything."

"You're wanted here, Lucy, trust me." Brady's voice was barely above a whisper, as he was still trying to avoid locking eyes with her. "It's just been a really rough day, and I didn't think Sev would appreciate it if I used her phone to call ya and let ya know what was goin' on after everythin' that happened."

"Everything that happened?" Lucina raised her eyebrows, crossing her arms over her chest and tapping her foot as she waited for an explanation. When one didn't come from her brother, she looked over to Severa instead. "Please, for the love of everything, tell me that all that's happened today is you having a baby. That has to be it."

"I could say that, sure," Severa told her, giving a heavy sigh, "but it would be sort of a lie. That's all I've done today, but that baby's broken and not perfect and I don't like it."

Her eyebrows raising further, Lucina went to ask what was meant by that, but Maribelle spoke before she got a chance. "She's not broken, dear Severa. If what you've explained to me is correct, she has a simple and completely fixable birth defect that you'll come to find is not that big of a deal."

"Still means she's broken."

"It does not." Almost all eyes were on Maribelle now, and she swallowed down hard, realizing that she was now expected to keep talking. "Take it from someone who has had to raise a child with such a defect. It becomes no big deal in no time at all."

Several gasps filled the room, eyes widening in her direction, and Maribelle knew that the two people most shocked at what she had just told them were her two children. She had every intention of clearing the air and setting things straight, but one of the doctors had come into the room, rolling with him a small carrier that had a sleeping, bundled child within in. After scolding everyone for how many people were present, he pushed the carrier to the bedside, letting everyone in the room see the baby.

Lunabel's presence, even though she was fast asleep and didn't seem to notice that she was in such a crowded place, was enough to catch everyone's attention, and the three young people who hadn't already seen her flocked to be standing around the carrier. The baby was only in there for a few moments, however, as Severa picked her up and unbundled her from the blankets she was wrapped up in, disturbing her sleep and causing her to whine, but at the same time letting everyone see the "broken" foot in question. "Something about that looks awfully familiar to me," Lucina mused, leaning in to get closer to her niece, "but I can't exactly place my finger on what it is."

"You know what, Lucina, I think you're right!" The loudness of his voice enough of a shock to cause the baby to cry more, Owain moved away from being so close to her to instead look between where Brady sat and where Maribelle was, trying to get closer to see her grandchild. He stroked his chin a few times in thought, before proudly raising a finger in excitement. "I, however, think I can place my finger exactly where I've seen this before. If only my mother was here, she'd know the exact picture to pull out to prove my point!"

Lucina nodded, also taking a couple steps back from the baby to let someone else, in her case Cordelia, get a closer look. "The picture that she used to replace the one of the three of us getting into various trouble while completely nude, correct?"

"That's the exact one!" Owain raised his finger a bit higher, before pointing it in Brady's direction. "You, my most treasured cousin, do you know the image we speak of?"

"If ya give me a minute, I might." Brady ran a few fingers through his hair, running a mental recollection of all the pictures hanging in his aunt's house, eventually thinking of the one they were talking about. His face went blank as said image crossed his mind, and he looked to where Severa was still holding up Lunabel for everyone like an animal on display. "I…don't think I know what you're gettin' at by bringin' that picture up. Didn't your mom say that it was at a weird angle and the shadows were playin' tricks on our baby feet?"

"She did, but she was lying." Rather than it being Owain answering the question, it was Maribelle, as she stared almost in horror at Lunabel's little twisted foot. "I never thought that this would happen again, especially not to my first grandbaby." She gave a weary sigh, tilting her head back to blink away tears. "I guess that's what I get for keeping this secret from the son of mine who suffered the same way."

"What was that, Ma? Ya kind of got a bit choked up there and I'm not used to hearin' ya get like that." Based on the fact that he too was starting to cry, Brady had fully heard what Maribelle had said, but he wanted her to repeat it so that he knew she wasn't playing around. When she said the fateful words a second time, he forced himself to nod, a painful smile upon his face. "Why'd ya never let me know about that? I don't remember it, but I'm sure it was all when I was too little to remember and all that…"

"I didn't want you thinking you were ever a broken child, my sweet Brady. I wanted you to think you were always perfect the way you were, never having something like this happening to you." Maribelle's voice was cracking, shaking with every word. "And now for your child, my grandbaby, to be afflicted by the same condition, it's a cruel twist of fate."

A loud sob filled the air, quickly followed by Brady nearly tackling his mother in a hug as they both broke down crying over what had just happened. "Uh, is now a bad time to come in here?" Cynthia's loud, chipper voice asked over the sounds of two grown adults and one newborn crying. "Me and Inigo just thought we should stop by, since Owain was so kind as to let us know where you guys were, but maybe we shouldn't be here."

"Nonsense, my love, it's simply an emotional time in their lives." Inigo gave Cynthia a push towards where everyone else was in the room. "Now you go in and mingle with everyone while I go find something to supply as a gift for the occasion. Go on, have fun ogling the baby while I shop." She tried to dig her heels into the floor, but as it was tile she just slid along until she gave up and actually walked, bidding him farewell with a wave.

"I can't even try to be upset that you're here, Cynthia," Severa said, barely audible over the crying. "You've come in at the perfect time, too. Get a look at my broken and whining baby." She held Lunabel up a bit higher, the little girl still screaming like she was being tortured, and after Cynthia got a few moments of looking at her, she was finally pulled in close to her mom's chest and calmed down. "Isn't she great? I wanted to return her but now that I know her damn defect runs in the family, maybe I'll keep her around after all."

"I'd sure hope you'd keep her! She seems like such a cutie!" Cupping her face in her hands, Cynthia leaned in closer to see the baby, before perking her head up and doing a present person count. "Uh, I don't mean to sound like a drag or anything, but aren't we missing some people here? Like, maybe, the mayor? Shouldn't he get to see her before, like, half of us?" She got her answer from several different people, all of whom were quick to say that he was too busy working to come stop by, an answer she accepted with a few nods. "Makes sense! Not going to complain that I'm here, after all!"

"Yes, well, I might complain if that regular customer of yours comes walking in here. Totally heard him come in, and boy am I glad he left. Last thing I need is him leering at my baby." Severa scoffed, holding Lunabel just a bit closer to her. "He's so weird, Cynthia. Thought you had better taste in people."

The brown-haired woman dropped her hands to behind her back, looking down in shame at her friend's scathing remark. "He's not weird, he's just shy. But once I got to know him better, and once I learned he's been such great friends with one of my great friends," she nudged one shoulder in Owain's direction, "I had to give him a chance! He only came today because he wanted to share some love with the baby and the baby's dad, since it is both their birthdays today!"

It was a fact that Brady had completely forgotten about the day in the rush of everyone after his mother entering the room, and he looked away from his wife and child to see the balloons he was still holding, the ones that were wishing him a happy birthday. After the day he'd had so far, that sort of reminder was a welcome one—especially when coupled with the fact that this day was just the beginning of wonderful things to come.

The first few days after Lunabel's birth went by rather quickly, as the new parents had to adjust to life with an actual child around. She was kept in the hospital for two days, just to make sure that her mild case of clubfoot was her only medical problem, and when she was released she was sent home with an absolutely tiny cast wrapped from toes to thigh on the afflicted foot. It was heartbreaking to see her, in all her newborn glory, with something so harsh on her body, but both parents knew that it was what needed to be done to get her foot into proper working condition.

As the days turned into weeks, which then turned into months, she grew and flourished, developing a personality not unlike her mother's. She fussed whenever she wasn't getting attention, or the attention that she wanted, and became very affectionate whenever the person holding her was the exact one that she wanted. While she acted like her mother, she most definitely looked more like her father, although as she grew her face began to look less strongly like his and more like a varied mix between the two. They were absolutely smitten with her, especially with how she was so much like them both, and she had quickly become their entire world in the time they'd had her around.

Raising her took some real sacrifices, ones that weren't necessarily ones they had anticipated having to make. While they were plenty set up in regards to things to take care of her with, they did have to make countless trips to various doctors for her foot problem, to make sure it was properly healing. When she was several months old, she no longer needed the cast, but the plaster was replaced with a metal brace that was much more unwieldy and made putting her down almost anywhere a real challenge. With the brace on (which, as Severa insisted they follow what the doctors said to the letter, it was on almost every hour of every day), she couldn't exactly make herself mobile, and so while she was trying her hardest to teach herself to roll over, she couldn't do it without some real help.

She could, however, sit up on her own after some struggle, and from there she found a way to get herself onto her knees, but that was where her progress stopped. As long as she had the brace on her foot, she wasn't going to make herself mobile, and that was a fact the infant refused to accept, crying frequently when her attempts at moving were thwarted. Depending on which parent was around when she'd try this, she would either be comforted with encouraging words or picked up and coddled until she stopped crying; the second one became a common reaction, especially around almost any other family member or friend of the parents who had permission to watch the little girl.

Lunabel's first birthday was a big deal to everyone, but because of the day of the week it fell on, and the fact that everyone that would be interested in celebrating the occasion was busy, the actual celebration was quite small and more intimate to only the family. Neither parent lamented the fact, as she wasn't going to remember anything so she wouldn't need to have the giant amount of effort put into a celebration for her, but they told each other that her next birthday would be celebrated properly and with as many people, if not more, as the baby shower for her had.

For a year, during which they watched their baby girl grow into an inquisitive toddler who tried exploring everything with what limited motion she had with her brace on, the parents planned out their daughter's perfect birthday party. They took notice of all her interests, all her favorite things, and tried to find a way to incorporate everything into the party, a hard task when Lunabel would change what she loved seemingly every day. By the time her second birthday was upon them, they felt they had everything as good as it was going to get, with a few surprises for everyone involved that would be appreciated.

The party took place in the backyard of Brady's parents' house, which was the most spacious place they could think of. Maribelle was more than thrilled to have her granddaughter's party at her place, and Chrom made it a point to find the time to be around for the events. They were both caught very off-guard when, coming to set up the party, they saw that Severa was holding in her arms a Lunabel without a brace on her foot, looking very excited about the occasion. "What's this? I thought she still always had to have the brace on," Maribelle commented, reaching out for her grandbaby. "Are you telling me that she no longer has to be bound somewhere by that foul contraption?"

"Not all the time, yeah. She hasn't always had it on for a while, but as of a week ago, she doesn't have to wear it unless we feel she needs it." Beaming over at his daughter, Brady was caught by surprise when his mother changed from reaching for the child to wrapping him in a hug. "Uh, Ma, what's this all about?"

"It's just as much your birthday as it is hers, my darling son. Just thought you would appreciate a bit of attention." She squeezed him tightly for just a second, before going back to trying to get Lunabel from Severa's arms. "And now it's time for me to give my precious granddaughter several birthday kisses and hugs!"

The little girl's face lit up, kicking her feet independently of each other while reaching up to grab one of the little pigtails made of her blue hair. "Mamaw-belle!" she screeched, beginning to land kicks in Severa's side to drive her mother to pass her off to the older woman, which she did without any hesitation. "Mamaw-belle hi!"

"You certainly have my name down, don't you, sweetie? What a smart little two-year-old you are!" Kissing the top of the girl's head, Maribelle sighed happily. "You're easily the best child your parents could have been given, and I am so proud to be able to call you my granddaughter." The girl giggled and tilted her head back to plant a messy kiss on her grandmother's jaw, which made Maribelle even happier. "That's right, show me this love."

"Do I get any love as well?" Standing at Maribelle's side, Chrom smiled down at Lunabel, who stopped with her kisses long enough to look at him, scrunch her face up as she shook her head, and resume the kisses she had been giving. "Oh, it was worth a shot. Can't get that girl away from Maribelle for anything."

"That's because I actually spend time with her and she loves me," Maribelle replied, nudging Chrom with her shoulder without disrupting the girl in her arms. "The same can't be said about you, on the first part. She loves you as well, as she should."

He nudged her back, nearly toppling her over with the force of his push; while it could have gotten ugly, as evidenced by the dual gasps the child's parents let out when they saw her almost be thrown to the ground in Maribelle's attempt to not fall, it ended up okay. However, it did not end with Chrom getting his hands on his granddaughter, which seemed to have been the entire reason for the interaction in the first place. "Can we, like, go start setting up for this party or something?" Severa asked, her hand over her chest as she was still trying to calm her heart after the scare. "I don't think I can handle seeing that ever happen again, and if we just set her down and let her do whatever while we're setting up, it definitely won't get to happen."

"Uh, yeah, we can set up, I guess." Chrom made himself look a little sorry for what had happened, especially when he saw just how panicked the younger parents were. Maribelle wasn't so happy about the idea, because it meant she had to put the child down and let her roam around free, but the beauty of watching the little girl take shaky steps that relied far too heavily on her good foot was more than enough to make up for things. The setup for the party didn't take nearly as long as anyone had anticipated it would, because four sets of hands and one well-behaved little girl made for quick work, but that worked out in their favor as the first guests showed up far earlier than had been expected.

At least, that's how it seemed, but with the quick way they were moving and talking, it was made painfully clear that Lucina and Laurent had no intentions of actually staying. When asked about where they needed to get to by everyone present, Lucina rolled her eyes and replied, "We've got to get over to a research library to work on some important school stuff. You know, college kids and their massive papers and all that." She gave a flippant wave of her hand, while Laurent added something about how it was his massive paper they were working on. "Yeah, that part might be important to add. We have to get into the highly theoretical stuff that even his mom's library doesn't cover."

"Then why did ya come by if ya weren't plannin' on stayin'?" Brady asked, before being enveloped in a tight hug by his sister. He sighed as she rested her head on the side of his shoulder. "Let me guess, you're here because it's my birthday too, and ya wanted to say somethin' about it."

"Not quite, you big oaf. I'm here because of you and my niece both, but the present we have with us today's more for you and Severa than Lunabel. Although it definitely does involve her." At the sound of her name, the little girl came hobbling over, attaching herself to her aunt's leg and screeching in excitement. "Yes, yes, sweet child, I love you too. Now get off of me so that we can get the last picture we need."

"Last picture…?" It took a second of remembering what the gift that Lucina was speaking of was, but when she remembered it, Severa quickly grabbed Lunabel off of her leg and got her to stand absolutely still right in front of the backside of the house. While Laurent took the picture with his camera and printed it where he stood, Lucina stopped hugging her brother and grabbed the gigantic baby book out of the bag she had brought to the party with her, opening it to the very last page of many that had been added over the past two years. When the picture was printed, he handed it to her, and she slid it into place on that final page, closing the book up and putting it back into the bag, which she then handed over to Severa, who looked at it with a fair amount of disbelief. "You're kidding. All this time and you've been holding onto that book for this?"

Lucina and Laurent looked between each other, silently arguing with one another over who was to explain what had happened with their originally-intended baby shower gift. He was the one who ended up winning the honor of explanation: "You see, we got rather wrapped up in documenting everything for you. It was an experience, doing the research and asking the proper questions to be able to fill in the pages of the book. There may still be some blank pages, sure, but if the time comes to fill those in, we will be willing to do the job. After all, as Lucina has said to me many times, neither parent would be eager to document such events, so why not let those who are simultaneously invested in the child while having no intentions of having children of their own do it?"

"So thanks for being creepy and caring, I guess?" Severa swung the bag around a bit, noting how heavy it was. "Seriously though, thanks. I can tell how much care you guys put into this. We'll definitely treasure it almost as much as we treasure Luna herself."

"Which is a lot, if ya couldn't tell. Thanks, Lucy, and thanks too, Laurent, for doin' this for us." Brady took the bag from Severa, not expecting it to be as heavy as it was. "What did ya put in this thing? It probably actually weighs more than Luna does, which isn't sayin' much but it's still sayin' somethin'."

The pair didn't respond to the question directly, just reminding everyone that they did need to leave to go do their research, so goodbyes were said, happy birthdays were wished, and they were gone, leaving the original five people standing there once more. "I still cannot believe you two gave this child such a beautiful and perfect name just to shorten it and ruin its beauty," Maribelle commented, shaking her head at what she was saying. "You gave her the name for a reason, so use it properly."

"Sorry Ma, but that's just not how it works. Callin' her Lunabel all the time gets kind of annoyin', especially when it's so easy to shorten the name." Brady happened to look in his mother's direction at the exact moment she shot a death glare at him, and he sighed. "Ma, I know, you're so in love with us namin' her somewhat after you, but we don't have to use that part of her name all the time."

"And if I'm okay with calling her Luna, and I'm the one who had to sacrifice so much to bring her into this world, you can suck it up and be okay with it too." Her every word was filled with biting sarcasm, and Severa knew that she wasn't going to be appreciated for talking like that, so she picked Lunabel up and held her to protect herself from being attacked for what was said. In all honesty, if the child hadn't been grabbed, Maribelle was going to make things a bit physical and get in Severa's face, but she thought better of it when she saw her smiling granddaughter in the way.

"What's going on back here?" It was a female voice speaking over a chorus of chatter, as the backyard began to burst with the guests for the party. Everyone turned to look to see who was speaking, and based on the way Lunabel started squealing and had to be actually set down so she could run the best she could over to the speaker, being picked up by her and hugged very closely, it was someone well-wanted. "Oh, hello affectionate one. Aren't you just the liveliest child today?"

"Today? She's always got some real spunk in her, just like her mom." A second voice entered the fray, and when that speaker appeared from behind the first one, just the sight of him was enough to get Severa almost squealing as loud as her daughter had been. She didn't run over to the newcomers, however, because getting near the first person was not something she wanted to do; the second person understood this and, after ruffling Lunabel's pigtails a bit, came over to stand at his daughter's side, opening his arms for a hug, an offer she took with no hesitation. "Nice to see you too, Severa. Glad to know you still love me."

Despite her typical aversion to showing her emotions, Severa let her voice crack and waver as she said, "I couldn't ever not love you, Daddy. I'm so glad to see you not in jail again."

"I'm glad too, trust me." Gaius smiled, as he and his daughter shared a quick hug. When they parted, he chuckled. "This old man can't do another nickel, not when there's so much to live for out here." He turned his head to see where Cordelia was still standing, talking to Lunabel while the little girl tried her best to answer questions. "All these important ladies in my life need me around, you know."

"We've always needed you around, but…thanks for being willing to try to stay out for us now. I mean, you've got to get to know my baby better than you knew me." Severa's lip was wobbling as she spoke, and she buried her face in her father's neck, bursting into tears when she knew she was hidden. "I'm so happy to see you not behind glass, Daddy!"

"Gaius, have you made the poor girl cry? For shame," Cordelia teasingly said, walking over to his side. "She's gone through so much because of you, couldn't you have tried harder not to let this happen to her right now?"

He shrugged, before seeing how close he was to his grandbaby that he hadn't actually met outside of being on the wrong side of glass in the jail. "Could have, sure, but it happened and that's just how it is. Now let me get a kiss on little Lunabel real quick, will you?" Cordelia obliged, lifting the girl a bit so she could be kissed on the cheek by Gaius, only to return his affection by sloppily kissing him on his cheek. "That's how I thought that would go. What a great day, and a great way, to meet my granddaughter."

"So he's allowed to kiss her but I'm not," Chrom grumbled, having to turn his attention away from what was happening with Lunabel to keep himself from getting angry about it. That was ultimately for the best, as there were plenty of party guests who needed to be directed on where to place their gifts and what else to do. This also allowed for him to learn that several guests were still missing, despite how many had shown up already, including the ones bringing arguably the most important part of the celebration.

Even without those guests there, the party did have to start, and so it did, everyone in attendance getting their chance to talk to either of the people celebrating their birthday that day, although most of the attention was on the younger of the two. Lunabel thrived on being the center of everyone's attention, always being willing to talk to anyone who would listen, and she loved being held by anyone with open arms. She mostly repeated things that she had overheard, sure, but she had fun doing it and people were entertained by listening to her. "Ha-a-ap bi-i-i-irf-ay!" she would repeat over and over again as she was talking, pointing to herself multiple times as she drew the words out longer and longer.

It was adorable, everyone could admit, but it was also taking away from being able to ask the girl about her foot and how well it was working for her, although by the way she would run around the yard and scream if anyone chased her, it was clear that her foot was just fine. At one point, while she was running by the gate to the yard, someone entered and completely ignored where she was running, tripping over her and landing face-first on the ground. It brought the party to a halt, especially when Lunabel realized she'd been tripped over and could cry to get attention. Her father picked her up, shushing her as he did, while her mother went to help the bigger person who had tripped—but was blocked from doing so by a reddish-haired man who quickly helped the clumsy guest to her feet.

"Gods, did you two really need to make this kind of appearance here?" Severa asked, looking at the couple who had made this dramatic entrance. "Cynthia falling on her face, that makes sense, but I so could have helped her up. Didn't need you swooping in to save the day, Inigo. Thanks for nothing."

"No, thanks for everything. The last thing we could need is for you to have damaged the ring on my precious Cynthia's finger by harshly helping her up." He beamed at what he had said, while Cynthia blushed and started giggling and Severa went completely slack-jawed, looking back and forth between the two for a moment before throwing her hands up in the air and walking away. "Yes, that's right, you walk away from us. I would say you have no understanding of true love, but if that were the case we wouldn't be gathered here today!"

"Maybe we could have announced our engagement news a bit better, but still, that was so adorable." Cynthia lay her head on Inigo's shoulder once she was completely and properly to her feet. "I'm totally okay with how you said that, though. Totally."

"Move out of the way of the gate! We've got something crucial to everyone's enjoyment of today!" It was Owain's voice from in the front yard, and not even a second after Inigo and Cynthia stepped to the side away from where they had been, he came into the backyard carrying a large cake box, Noire following behind him with a much smaller box in her hands. "We come bearing gifts in the form of baked goods!"

Whether everyone was supposed to or not, they all began cheering at the arrival of the birthday cake (or cakes, as it turned out being). The larger one was for everyone to eat there at the party, and it was decorated simply with the words "Happy Birthday" and a few small frosting flourishes, while the smaller cake was for Brady, Severa, and Lunabel when they were at home, and it was still decorated very simply but actually had names on it. They were fine with being given something smaller to take with them, but something seemed off about the situation. "Doesn't Noire normally love decoratin' these things? Why does it look like she's gotten tired of doin' that?" Brady asked to Owain, as he was unboxing the big cake and setting it out in the designated spot. "Don't tell me she's grown out of bakin'."

"No, Noire still very much loves to bake, and she's doing it even more nowadays for some reason. I haven't noticed her angry side coming out more than usual, mind you, but she's been baking more and more. Although, honestly, I'm not sure what she's doing with everything she's making." Owain stopped what he was doing and stroked his chin in thought for a few moments, before shrugging and going back to his unboxing. "She hasn't baked this much in a long time. It's almost like she's got someone as ravenous for sweets as Severa used to be to feed all over again."

"Well it's definitely not Sev she's givin' these things to, so no idea where it's all goin'. Maybe she's just tossin' it once she's baked it?" At the same time, both guys looked over at where Noire was standing, talking in her normal soft manner to Severa while sneaking little bits of cake into Lunabel's mouth. "Or maybe she's keepin' it handy to give to my little girl! I'm going to go teach her a lesson real quick, Owain. She can't be feedin' Luna like that. Givin' her too many sweets when she's excited like she is today isn't goin' to end well."

"Have fun telling her to stop, dear cousin. You know she loves feeding any mouth she can find to accept her cakes." Owain laughed, but Brady didn't find what he was saying funny in the slightest. As he headed over to where Noire and Severa were standing, he had a moment where he thought about not stopping what was happening, but he quickly cast that thought aside as it was a bad idea.

It was also a bad idea to try and stop things, however. While Noire was more than okay with accepting guilt and realizing that she was doing something she shouldn't be, Severa got upset that Brady was stepping in while she was handling the situation. "I'm fine with Luna getting a little bit of cake. It's something Noire baked. It's not going to hurt her."

"Well, in that case, I may have some more for her…" Pulling out a rather large bag of cake pieces from her purse, Noire quickly made a new friend in Lunabel, who eagerly took the cake and shoved it in her mouth, more excited about the sweet food than anything else. For the next hour or so, she was constantly taking pieces of cake and either eating them herself or offering them around to the people at the party, which was all in good fun until she gave up on sharing and just kept eating it on her own.

By the time it came time to have the actual birthday cake, she'd eaten a good third of what had been in that bag, and she wasn't going to not be given a piece of her birthday cake. She simply devoured what she was given and went to beg for a second piece, but was denied because a girl her size didn't need that much frosting and sugar running through her system—she stood there and screamed until someone gave her exactly what she wanted. It was clear that she had inherited the same sweet tooth that Gaius and Severa had, but while they were able to actually handle the sweets they indulged in, Lunabel wasn't quite able to do that at her age.

This led to her quickly succumbing to a stomachache that left her sitting in her mom's lap whining about how bad she felt as she tried opening presents. The very first gift she opened, a giant stuffed animal bought for her by her Mamaw-belle, was enough to get her excited again, but the excitement came at a price. She looked at the bear and grinned, and turned to say something about it to her mom, but when she opened her mouth her grin absolutely vanished as she started throwing up all over her mom, who screamed and tried pushing her off onto the grass. Everyone around watched in horror, but none were more horrified than Brady, who had tried to keep this from happening, and Severa, who had just had this happen all over her.

Once Lunabel stopped throwing up and was laying on the ground, whimpering about her stomach hurting, Severa got to her feet and looked down in horror at what was covering her, running inside the house to find somewhere to clean herself off. That left Brady to pick his now-crying daughter up and take her to get cleaned as well, not an easy task when she was squirming while in his grasp and making the mess on her worse. As Severa had ran into the one bathroom on the lower floor of the house, he had to carefully take Lunabel upstairs to the bathroom located next to his old bedroom, locking the door behind him as he sat the girl on the counter and started running the sink water.

"This is why we don't let you have all those sweet things, Luna," he said to her as he grabbed a washcloth and soaked it with water, using it to start wiping her face. "Next time someone feeds ya from a big bag of sweets, tell them no. Ya don't want to get sick like this every again, do ya?"

"N-no," the girl replied, tears still streaming down her face. Her hands were clutching her stomach as if it was still bothering her. "Hu-urts, Dada! Hurts!"

He hated seeing her miserable, but there was nothing he could do about it. "I know, Luna, but it's your fault for takin' all that cake. Can't help ya when you're the one makin' the bad choices like that."

"Dada pwease, hurts!" Lunabel hiccupped, scaring him into stepping back from her a bit, not wanting her to start throwing up on him as well. When she didn't, he came closer again, continuing with cleaning her off.

All was well until there was a series of rapid knocks at the door. "Brady, dearest, is everything okay in there?" Maribelle asked, trying to open the door to enter but finding that the room was locked. "Is Lunabel going to be okay? Everyone outside is worried about you and her both, this happening on your birthday and whatnot…"

He sighed, looking at his reflection in the mirror, noticing the pale red tone to his skin from being outside all day, clashing heavily with his messy blue hair. His eyes tracked down to where he could see the reflection of Lunabel's little blue head, and despite the reason they were in there, he smiled at her. "Yeah, Ma, everything's fine in here. Go worry about Sev, please, and we'll be out soon. Promise."

"If you're sure you've got this handled, I might just take up your suggestion and check on poor Severa. Perhaps I could assist her by finding something less soiled for her to wear?" Maribelle tried the door handle one last time, still finding it locked, and she could soon be heard going down the stairs to do as she said, leaving them there in the bathroom in silence.

"Ha-a-ap bi-i-i-irf," Lunabel feebly sang, still clearly not feeling good but trying to bring some happiness into her father's life. And Brady actually burst into tears at the sound.

A/N: First off, sorry if any of this feels rushed and/or badly written. I've been on vacation for the past ten days and needed to have this done today so I've been writing as fast as I can while trying to keep everything true to my original vision for this story.

Secondly, I needed to get this posted today because it entirely takes place on February 22nd, which is today. c:

And finally, with this chapter this story is complete. I hope everyone's enjoyed it, but most especially my good friend Kody, for whom this was written! :DD