Guilt [Shelby]

[Ian Hunt]

It's been at least a week since I've been here last, which I feel bad about. Considering how regularly I came to see my daughter during the first few months of her life, I'm doing pretty well at the moment, but I still feel guilty for letting a whole seven days slide past since I last came to see her.
And since I last came to see Shell.

So what if Maddie isn't comfortable with it, she never will be, and that's her problem. I'm not comfortable with Liam being at the house ever, but I've had to turn him away twice in the past few months and I don't know if he's ever been there when I don't know about it. Either way, he's pissing me off.

I suppose it's my fault for leaving in the first place. I never should have walked out on my family, and of course some other guy was going to try to take my place.
But I've been home for over a year now, and I think that he should just back the hell off already like I keep telling him to do.

That's not really important right now though. I can leave home stress where it belongs, and focus on second family guilt right now.
Oh what a variety of emotions my life brings to me.

I knock lightly on the door, as I always seem to. I can come up the path with as much confidence as I care to have, but it all but disappears as soon as I'm standing on the step. There are an awful lot of people in this house, and I really don't think it's wrong to be too intimidated by it.

[Shelby Crescent]

"Mum, where's your broom? I wanna go flying for a bit with Jen and she stole mine." Isaiah says as if it was nothing new. Jenny always picked on her brother the most out of all the kids. "It's in the closet. Just don't break it again." she frowns standing up hearing something crash in the kitchen. Isaiah grins as Shell sighs as they both walk into the kitchen.

"Oh my..." Shell's jaw drops, causing Isaiah to laugh hysterically seeing Vi, Liese and James covered in milk and cereal of all kinds. "What are you doing!" she gasps after a few moments her voice decided to fail on her. "Jenny said that you wanted us to make breakfast today." Vi says with a smile as she eats a few cheerios off her head. Isaiah continues to laugh as he starts cleaning off the counter and then James.

Hearing a faint knock on the door Shell turns around, putting a hand through her bangs and starts walking to the door. "Don't move." she says sternly to the three of them, but Vi runs in front of her. "I got it!" Jenny had already answer the door though, with a grin. "Oh hey Ian wondering where you went. Wait til you see Vi." she beams moving over as she tosses her brown hair over her shoulder. Vi runs to the door covered head to toe still, just waving at Ian.

[Ian Hunt]

"Hey Jenny," I grin back, but freeze slightly as I see Vi, torn between the desire to laugh and sigh.
I settle on laughing because that's probably the best option to go with, "Vi, what have you been doing?"

[Shelby Crescent]

Vi giggles and just looks up at Ian. "Jenny said that mom wanted us to make breakfast for everyone today and Liese dropped the milk." she says still taking a few pieces of cereal off her head and eating them. Jenny glances over at Ian and grins again, "Hey, I didn't want to do the chore. Can you blame me?" she says with a laugh before looking back at Vi.

"Why don't you give your dad a nice big hug?" she says with a smile to Vi and then one to Ian as Vi starts walking over to Ian. Shell walks in holding James, while Isaiah had Liese. "Yes go hug your dad Vi. I bet he misses your hugs." she says giving him a small wink before setting James down on his feet.

[Ian Hunt]

"Cunning, Jenny," I laugh slightly, "Sure you shouldn't have been a snake?"

I grin slightly, picking Vi up as she walks towards me to save myself from the worse case scenario of being hugged properly and getting covered in cereal and milk myself, "Well hello there, Vi. Thank you for the unprompted affection of the greeting. Always appreciated."

"Hi Shell, Isaiah, James, Liese," I try and greet the rest of the many people in the hall as they appear out of nowhere and hope that this is going to have be all the names I remember for today, idly picking a cheerio off of Vi's cheek and offering it to her, "You want this?"

[Shelby Crescent]

"Don't tell mum that. I think she would have been heartbroken if I was, but I think she was expecting me to be a Snake honestly." she says with a shrug. "But I don't think it would have been that bad."

Vi giggles again, wrapping her arms around Ian's neck. "I missed you daddy. And you're very welcome." she says kissing his cheek lightly before taking the cheerio and eating it.

All the other kids just smile and start walking towards the stairs. "Come on, I'll clean them up mom." As Isaiah passes by Jenny she whispers, "Suck up. Always gonna be mum's little boy?" Isaiah just smiles and walks upstairs with Liese and James, with Jenny following soon after. "Bye Ian." she says patting him lightly on the shoulder and taking a fruit loop off her Vi's head.

Shell walks over and just leans against the banister and laughs at Vi. "That can't be really healthy can it?" she asks the both of them.

[Ian Hunt]

"Wouldn't really wish it on anyone to be honest," I shake my head, "Should be glad you escaped it really."

"I missed you too," I grin slightly, using my free hand to tuck her hair behind her ear, "How have you been? Besides making a mess of the kitchen."

"Bye Jenny, always a pleasure," I respond, raising an eyebrow slightly at the sort of half-hearted honesty of this remark. I do appreciate Jenny's sense of humour and the fact that she's one of the few here that will strike up any kind of conversation with me beyond the usual hello's and goodbye's, but I've seen the way she bullies some of the others, particularly Isaiah over the years and it would be a lie to say I was comfortable with it.

"Pfft, healthy," I laugh slightly, picking another fruit loop of Vi's head and holding it out to Shell, "You feeling left out or something?"

[Shelby Crescent]

Vi just takes another piece and eats it, thinking hard on his question. Ashlyn took me to get my haircut, Mum took us to diagon alley for everyone's school supplies and umm." she looks over her shoulder and whispers in his ear, pouring some milk onto his shoulder. "Broke one of mum's pictureframes. Shh."

Shell shakes her head a bit walking over and taking the green fruit loop. "Thanks. I did feel a little left out, eating cereal from our daughter's head. Who do you know that doesn't do that?" she asks tickling her sides.

[Ian Hunt]

"And a lovely haircut it is too," I nod, "I hope you didn't cause too much trouble in Diagon Alley. And, alright, we'll keep quiet about that one," I laugh slightly.
I don't really much care that I have milk on my shoulder anyway, when I put her down I'm probably going to have fruit loops stuck to me. I've given up on trying to keep clean for more than five minutes anyway recently. Abby's just discovered the joys of hurling dirt around, and Poppy's just rediscovered the joys of hurling dirt around.

I laugh slightly, "It's a very normal thing to do, I should think. You'd be hard pressed to find someone that doesn't partake in such activities."
Then I grin slightly, "How have you been Shell? Everything okay?"

[Shelby Crescent]

Vi smiles and kisses his cheek again. "Deal. And not really, Jenny and Zoe got in trouble for flirting with a young guy that was ringing up their books to see if they could get a discount. Mom said that if they wanted to flirt do it outside of her seeing distance and that she had eyes on the back of her head so they better be careful." she says with a nod, looking at Shell with a smile. "I think she does. She caught me taking an oatmeal cookie yesterday when she was peeling carrots at the sink."

Shell nods at Ian with a wink before taking another piece. "I actually wouldn't doubt it especially with my relatives at least." she says with a laugh. "Same old same old really. Busy with all the kids and trying to keep up with Jenny. She wants some big celebration for when she graduates. She claims that we should at least give out food to people since they're coming to give her money... Spoiled child she is."

[Ian Hunt]

"Oh dear," I reply, raising an eyebrow, "But that won't be a problem for you, will it Vi? You're not going to worry us by flirting, or having boyfriends, are you? No, of course not. No dating until you're fourty." I grin slightly.

"I wouldn't doubt it with mine either," I agree, laughing slightly, "Ah, good luck with that Shell. When's she graduating now?"

[Shelby Crescent]

Vi widens her eyes and then scowls lightly. "I have to wait until I'm mum's age to start dating?" Shell gasps at Vi seeing her smile ear to ear just to get a reaction out of her. "For your information, I'm uhh. 25." she says biting her lip at herself. As much as Shell hated to admit it, she was reaching forty in the next few years.

"Almost out of school right now. She just has about three weeks, her NEWTS and then she's done. Keeps complaining about how the Astronomy teacher is a nag for how much is on the study guide for the test." she says with a smile.

[Ian Hunt]

I laugh at that, "Shush Vi. Never mention your mother's age. She might not feed you if you do."
"Twenty-five?" I grin at Shell, "Very believable."

I laugh slightly at that, "Does she know what she's going to do when she's out of school?"

[Shelby Crescent]

Vi gasps shaking her head. "She wouldn't do that. Would she?"
Shell looks up at him and raises an eyebrow. "Was that sarcastic or honesty there?" she asks tilting her chin up with a faint smile.

"Something with healing I believe. She changes her mind everyday it seems." she says with a sigh. "Confusing child I have."

[Ian Hunt]

"Of course she wouldn't," I shake my head, "She's not mean enough. But you might upset her, and that wouldn't be good."
I raise an eyebrow in response, still grinning a little, "A little bit of both. Mostly honesty. Just most twenty-five year old's don't have a daughter on the verge of graduation."
"I thought all children were confusing?" I reply wryly, "But healing is good, I should think."

[Shelby Crescent]

Vi nods, resting her curly head on his chest with a sigh.
"Aren't we the charmer today? Did you hit your head on something on the way over here or what?" she asks with a laugh, now looking at Vi, almost sleeping his arms.
"Most are, but Jenny and Poppy for that matter are beyond confusing. They're mental." she says with a soft laugh, as she tilts her head onto her shoulder.

[Ian Hunt]

I stroke Vi's hair softly off her forehead, idly runing my thumb in small circles on her back when she rests her head against my chest. It's second nature, now.
I laugh softly, "Thanks for your concern, but I'm pretty sure I haven't hit my head lately. I don't know what's wrong with me today."
"Mental would be an understatement," I laugh quietly.

[Shelby Crescent]

"Pretty sure you'll snap out of it soon." she says with a nod as she walks over to Ian and wraps her arms around Vi to take her upstairs. "You can come if you'd like, or you can risk being attacked by a stampede of my other children." she says softly, kissing Vi's forehead softly.
"Okay maybe they should be in a nuthouse somewhere then." she says as she makes her way up a couple stairs.

[Ian Hunt]

"One can only hope," I reply, letting her take Vi from me.
I glance around the hall briefly, while considering whether I want to risk being attacked or not, and then shrug slightly and follow her up the stairs as it seems to be the safer option.

[Shelby Crescent]

Shell laughs slightly walking down the hall to a door that had a V and an A on it, and enters the room. The walls were painted a light pink with violet colored spirals on the wall. She walks over to her bed and pulls down the sheets, placing her softly onto the mattress and covers her up. "I like when they sleep. I get to have free time that's usually spent sleeping." she says with a soft laugh, as she sat down on Liese's bed.

[Ian Hunt]

I laugh quietly, leaning up against the wall closest to the door, "Yeah, that's got to be a relief, I suppose."

[Shelby Crescent]

"Of course it is." she says with a smile over her shoulder before resting her elbows on her knees, watching Vi sleep. "So how's Alex and Abby? I saw Poppy the other day. Nearly tackled me in a hug."

[Ian Hunt]

"I apologise on her behalf then," I smile wryly, shaking my head, "She's got to be quite violent with her affections lately."
"Abby's doing well. She'll chatter away sometimes and then be mute for hours and hours at other times. I wouldn't really know how Alex is," I shrug, looking over at Vi sleeping, "He's still not talking to me."
"How's all your lot?" I ask.

[Shelby Crescent]

Shell nods a bit, yawning as she did so. "He'll come around. Even if it takes a few years. I'm talking to my father now, believe it or not." The only reason for this miracle though is that Briar and her father were sorta seeing each other over the past few years, which was still distrubing her mind, so she never mentioned it.

"Zoe's off with her boyfriend today, Ashlyn and Jenny are still bickering about something. I don't remember. Isaiah's still protective, Jessie still hates me and the rest I have no idea. I'm pretty sure they're okay." she says with another yawn.

[Ian Hunt]

I suppose that is some hope. I've never done anything to Alex like what Shell's father did to her. I only walked out, and I came back so he can't be mad forever.
"I guess," I shrug.

"That's good," I nod, then stifle a grin at her yawns, "Shell, when did you last sleep?"

[Shelby Crescent]

"You'll see. I know these things." she says with a smile before managing to stand. "I'll say five days ago, minus the ten minute naps I get once in a while. Jay's been off working and hasn't been home, so I have to stay up." she nods, putting her hands on her hips.

[Ian Hunt]

"Jesus Christ. No wonder you're yawning," I murmur, "Go and get some sleep before you keel over."

[Shelby Crescent]

She yawns again. "We've done this before Ian. Are you really gonna manage ten kids, minus I guess Zoe and Vi seeing as they're gone in different terms, but seriously can you?" she asks biting her lip as she makes her way to the door, just leaning against the frame.

[Ian Hunt]

"I highly doubt it," I nod, "But you need to get some sleep."

[Shelby Crescent]

Shell laughs a bit. "Thanks for the confidence booster Ian." she says pushing herself off the frame and hugs him lightly. "Wake me in an hour. No more than that." she says patting his shoulder before walking down the hall and disappearing into her room.