12.

Mariella and Damon were ready. They had talked in a pack that they would take this easy. Visit Mimi if she allows it, so everyone can get to know the babies and not pressure Mimi too much, and slowly. Ever so slowly, try to win her back. They had collected a gift basket for the babies and for Mimi, too. Mimi's new house was enormous, and the yard was immense. Damon swallowed nervously as they went to the front door and rang the doorbell. Soon they heard footsteps coming closer, and the door opened.

Mimi stood there. Her hair was blonde, curly, and now in a ponytail. She had jeans, which were loose on her skinny frame, and a long-sleeved tee shirt. With rainbows, Damon knew that it was a child's shirt. He said this fact in his mind to Mariella. 

I went to open the door, and there were Damon and Mariella.

Damon said, " Hello baby, it's been a long fucking time, but can we come in?"

He looked at me from head to toes and I felt somehow naked under his sharp gaze. I saw Mariella too. Her hair was long in big luscious curls, deep blood red, she had makeup, a tight silk dress, violet, accentuated her curves, and I saw several Damon's family jewels on her. Those had been given to me once. Damon had on his black leather jacket, white tee shirt, and black jeans. His hair was a little longer again. Kind of messy, too. There was a breeze outside and I could see it messing his hair a bit. 

I swallowed. I wasn't prepared, and Damon was a sight to behold. I got my voice working and said, " Yeah, come on in. The girls are in the living room. I have a guest here, too, Wulfe, so I hope you can behave. He is my friend, my closest friend. "

Damon said, "Yeah, we had done spying on you. Wulfe is fine with me. I can behave and the only danger with Mariella is that she might talk to him to sleep."

Mariella looked at Damon and poked him in the ribs. They were truly a couple. I opened the door better. I said Wulfe in my mind about our guests too, if he would want to come down. 

I had seen a basket on Mariella's lap with some baby stuff in it, so obviously, they were aware of it. Damon wandered into the living room and sat in one armchair. Mariella went sit to next to him. They looked at my girls, who were planning to try to stand. Wulfe came down the stairs, girls noticed him and crawled towards him. He smiled at them and made a minor spell, and little sparks came into the air, making girls giggle and try to catch to sparks.

I said to him. "These decided to stand up today, so we might have interesting times ahead of us. But come on, let me introduce you to these. You know Damon and this lovely lady is Mariella. Mariella, meet Wulfe."

Mariella and Damon shook his hand, and he sat next to them.

I said, "I am going to put food ready for these, so talk, and get to know each other."

I went to the kitchen.

Damon saw how natural Wulfe was with girls, how they crawled for him, and how he made magic for them. Damon wanted this. He wanted to be one with cool spells and take care of Mimi. He felt almost physical pain as he looked at Mimi. She was pale, thin, weak somehow, without her spark, or something.

Mariella and wulfe were talking. Damon listened absentmindedly and looked at the babies. Again, this one who had most of Mimi's looks took a grip on the chair, pulled herself to stand, and took one step. She looked flabbergasted as she realized what she had just done. Damon felt almost his eyes getting wet.

Wulfe said, "That one is May. She is a troublemaker, and of course, she is the first one to stand. She is the smallest, but she rules them all."

Mariella smiled and said, "We put always almost our babies quickly in the magic house and we never got to see this. "

Wulfe smiled, he said dryly, "Soon. I will know that look. Soon she will start to scream as she pooping right now."

Damon looked at his daughter closer. His telepathy confirmed this. The little girl's face started to twist, and she started to cry, and loud. Wulfe sighed.

Damon said, "Let me. You can help me, but let me."

Wulfe looked at him a moment, then said, "Fine, but beware, she is smelly."

Damon did not mind. He stood up, went to the crying baby, and picked her up in his arms. He could smell a certain scent already. Wulfe led him to the nursery and showed him the changing table.

Damon took the diaper. It was an actual panty diaper and Wulfe stood nearby, saying something here and there as Damon undressed his daughter. As he got her naked, he took the diaper off her; it was really smelly and Wulfe showed him the diaper bin. then there was quite a lot to be cleaned and she screamed most of the time. Wulfe assured him that was normal. After Damon had gotten her cleaned, he noticed that her clothes had been soiled too. So he needed to change clothes for her.

As I put food to warm up and heard May starting to scream poo scream, I also heard Wulfe let Damon change her. I walked up to the nursery. His expression was good. He was not used to this little smell.

As he noticed that her clothes were dirty, he looked around to see where are new ones, I said, "On your right, her shelf had a little M to it, they have their clothes, but keep an eye on her, she might fall."

Damon did not think, but snatched the baby in his arms before putting a new diaper on her. Soon he started to curse under his breath as pee was flowing in his shirt. I could not help but giggle. Mariella came by, she had now Lily who was also screaming, the same thing. 

I said to her, "There is another station. Thank god I have some spare clothes, as Damon got just peed,"

Mariella laughed at too. She started to change lily and cursed for the smell. There was nothing wrong with them. Poo is something that smells. And blood poo especially. Damon had gotten some spare clothes for May. He took his jacket and his shirt off, too. Put them in the laundry chute like he would live in here. I walked up to my guest room. Took a tee shirt, a pink one, it was men's size, and brought it to Damon. He looked at me. I was all innocent.

Mariella had gotten Lily out of her diaper and was cleaning her, complaining about how much shit there was. Emmylee started to scream. I and Wulfe went and got the last two and brought them over. Damon had just gotten May to be silenced. She was looking at his father very somberly.

Damon muttered, "Yeah, that is what flank is."

His favorite trick, scare my babies with his flanks. I went in, took May, and gave him Emmylee to be changed. I took some clothes for her ready. Mariella had gotten Lily done, so Wulfe gave her Vivianne. We took these two ready ones to the living room for be while before those two were ready. 

A little while longer, Damon and Mariella brought the last two babies to the living room. May was again standing. She was taking actual steps. With support, Wulfe was almost moved. He loved these children. It was just so wrong for him to probably never have children of his own. He was quite a good father.

Damon went near May, took her tiny hands in his, and supported her as she walked. Mariella wiped her eyes. I kept my expression neutral.

May giggled. She would have to walk all the time, but I said," It is dinnertime for these. Wulfe, are you ready?"

He sighed again and said, "Fine, I have the mop ready. I can wipe the floor if you wipe the kids."

Damon picked up May and Emmylee, mariella took Vivian and Lily and Wulfe led them to the kitchen. He told them who sat where, gave them bibs to put on babies and I took their plates and started to think what to give to them.

Damon said, "Wait a minute baby, let me check them first." 

He took the tiny needle, put numbing energy, and took a few drops of blood for each baby, tasted it, and Mariella tasted it, too. Then he thought for a while and came to deeper where I had my purees ready.

He said to me, "Go on, eat something, skeleton. I put food for these."

Fine, Wulfe told them how babies need to first try to eat themselves and then feed them, Colin's advice. I took my tray, went out from the backdoor, and took the long knife with me. I walked to my carcass and sliced a very big chunk. I thought that Damon and Mariella probably eat this, too. I had other foods too, but this was wagyu.

I carried my meat tray inside, holding my big knife. Damon had gotten everyone some purees in front of them, he came behind me, took the knife from my hand, and whispered in my ear."little girls are not allowed to play with big knives like this, I thought I had taught you better than this."

He took my meat tray, tasted it, and said to Mariella something in his mind as she went outside and brought more meat in. Babies made a mess as usual but they were trying to eat because whatever this was, was tasty for them.

May was about to start to scream. I stood up, got her plate, and started to feed her. She calmed down as she got some food in her. Damon came by, put some more puree into the plate, and went to feed Lily with himself. Mariella took care of Emmylee and Wulfe fed Vivianne.

After the babies were fed, and cleaned, floor mopped, I said, "You can put them in the living room. It is safe there. We can eat next to ourselves."

Damon grunted and said, "Fine, these could go to have a nap, probably first. These stuffed themselves."

I said, "Fine, they can sleep if they want to. It is not so sure, though."

Wulfe stood up. Again he told these two what to do, and who sleeps where. I cleared the kitchen meanwhile, put babies' stools away, and put some plates, and drinks. bread onto the table and meat. I had also colorful potato croquettes for Wulfe. 

They returned to the kitchen. It was quiet and Wulfe said, "They are sleeping, all of them. How wonderful! Oh, you have my favorites."

I took also a big pot of white sauce with eggs and some fish fingers. I told Damon and Mariella to sit down and start to eat. I had plenty of food, so no need to try to eat neatly. Wulfe took fish fingers, sauce, and croquettes while I took mostly beef, sauce, coffee, and Coca-Cola. I had quite a lot of sauce on my plates and a few croquettes, too.

We were eating. Mariella was sitting opposite Wulfe and said to him, "Do you know, boy-wonder, that you are not eating as you should? I mean, you are older than my husband, probably quite a hell of a lot stronger, yet you eat rubbish. I wonder what you could achieve if you eat as you should."

I smiled at Wulfe. He was a little unsure what to say, so I said, "Don't mind Mariella. She likes to feed everyone and tell them how to eat. Beware, she might take you as her target and feed you."

Mariella looked at me, I just nodded very slightly, Mariella took a plate, stood up, and went outside to get more meat, then she took a tray, filled it, what meats I had a little bit everywhere and took Wulfe's plate away and gave him the tray.

She said, "Start with that. It takes time to fill you properly up, but we have time."

I just smile at Wulfe. He was a good boy and started to eat. But then Damon got courage somewhere, stood up and came behind me, stuck his fangs in my neck, and drank my blood. He rubbed between his eyes quite soon and started to compose a tray for me. No more white sauce. He pureed some wagyu and lots of smoothies. Wulfe smirked at me. We were both in the feeding service now. 

After it felt like hours of feeding and my belly was stuffed to the brim, we moved to the living room.

Damon said, "Listen, we want to be part of your life, we are not pushing you to anything but could we visit, like daily, some of the pack, not too many at the time like five or six, and every day? Let's see where we are going, those babies are wonderful and I have missed you like you crazy, we all are and I am not even starting to beg you to come back yet, but let us visit, get to know you, our babies, to Wulfe too. "

I said, "Fine, you can visit, but no guarantees in the future. I can have a free baby daycare service here, no problem. That is all that I am willing to do at this point."

Damon nodded. Mariella came to me and hugged me. She said, "Thank you. Thank you, but how you... how did this happen, these babies?"

I said, " I was just pregnant that one day. My body is still what it is. These are May, Emmylee, Vivianne, and Lily Salvatore, if you don't mind."

Damon said, " No problem, baby, thanks for putting these as Salvatores. "

I sat down in one chair and said, " Daddy's girls, every one of them is a vampire. "

Damon looked at me for a moment and said, "I've missed you so fucking much you wouldn't believe, and I've regretted every fucking day of my whole fucking divorce."

I said, " Why do you regret it? Is it because you haven't had children?"

He said, " Just because, baby, I miss you, us. Life is so fucking mild when you're not with me."

I said," That is life without chaos. This is just my life now, these little ones, and I am trying to raise them as much as possible. "

Wulfe said, "You two, are you leaving, or, I could show you our yard. Babies have their own place as Mimi put some coffee on, right?"

I nodded. I was not sure what wulfe was doing, but he wanted to talk to these two by himself. I can let him. 

As they went out, Damon looked at that teen vampire wizard and said, "You have something to say, well spit it out. "

Wulfe led them to the backyard. There was a big white bench, and they sat there.

He started "I am defending Mimi. always and forever, so if you ever try to hurt her even a percent of that anguish that you put her through seven years ago, being a tick is easy compared to what I am willing to do to you."

Mariella frowned and said, "You have a story to tell. So tell us." 

Wulfe looked at the grass. It was summer, and the grass was perfect.

He said, "What do you know about ghosts, either of you? Have you even known that they are possible? They are not lost souls, but those actual souls, and sometimes, powerful emotions, pull them, a minor part of them back here, from up there."

Mariella thought for a moment and said, "Well yeah, it was rare and it was a bond, a strong bond a true soulmate bond that can pull soul down back here, so sometimes, the one who left behind, their sorrow could pull someone back here. "

Wulfe stood up. He motioned them to follow the outside fish pool. There was a bench too. They sat down.

Wulfe said, "I will show you two what happened seven years ago, to Mimi, and then, you can think long and hard about how to treat her. She is not just an incubator to have babies. Look at the water."

Damon and Mariella gazed into the water. The vision started to form. Wulfe explained all the time. 

"Mimi woke up, drugged, confused, and alone. Now neither of you has any idea how much pain it causes when a true soulmate bond is ripped out of our soul. Let alone 14. She was in shock, desperate, and blamed herself. Here you can see her, walking, she is going to the computer, to order something, soon you see. Then she orders more stuff, booze, and a lot of it. Did you know that Mimi should not drink heavily? Her body can't handle a hangover, but that is later. She feels the agony of her soul ripped apart. Then come delivers. "

Damon and Mariella saw, how men carried something huge and heavy into the living room or some room in Moldova. There was a big armchair, and next to it were bags full of strong booze. There was a table in front of the chair.

Wulfe carried on." Now, Mimi is here going to medbay. You see, she takes three syringes. The first one is concentrated tomato, coriander, thistle, and dandelion. Second syringe, holy water, concentrated vervain, and wolfsbane. In the third syringe, about 500% dose of the strongest cocktail that you can come up with, she had some potent drugs. "

Mariella gasped. She had no idea. Damon squeezed her hand so hard it hurt, but she did not say anything.

Wulfe continued, " Here Mimi comes to sit. She put those three syringes, and cannula onto the table. Drinks, take syringe but not yet, drink some more."

Damon murmured almost out loud, "Don't do it, don't do it.."

There was someone in front of Mimi talking to her. Then he saw, recognized him, Jake.

Damon said, "Jake, but how? Why? I know that they had a fling, but he was married and had kids. "

Wulfe said, "Soulmates aren't always lovers. Jake loved more Mimi than his children, he told to her, before he died. Mimi had known it always. It was Jake who got pulled by Mimi's pain here. Her truest soulmate, the one who wanted to care for her, after his death, too. Jake could not help Mimi directly, so he came to me. I know, a lot of ghosts, and this one said that my unicorn was about to end her existence. I came to help her. But not alone."

He showed them how Magnum, Murdock, Dexter, and Colin came to help her too, how they got her in the shower after wulfe had gotten her sleep by sleeping spell. How long it took her to recover from that alcohol poisoning, how long it took her to find her rage, to make armor, to shield that soul.

Damon was silent. He understood now. He said."well. We will visit, we will take this easy and this I will remember. Some of us come by tomorrow."

Then they left. Wulfe sat on a bench for a while. He stretched his hand and stroked the long-haired, big white fat cat, who hopped onto the bench next to him.

He murmured to it, "I sure hell hope that you know what you are doing. I hate to see my unicorn getting her heart crushed by those, but I trust you, old friend."

The cat was silent. He had done what he could. Rest depended on that damn free will again.