The silence before the storm, that was what this was...

But John knew it'd work out. And if not, well... He'd make it work out somehow or another.

At that time, a door opened from upstairs and a soft yawn echoed.

John glanced over to see Yue walking downstairs, holding Aurora in her arms.

The moment Aurora saw John, her sleepy eyes widened and she giggled, waving her hands. "Baba!"

John walked over and smiled, poking Aurora's cheek. "Heya, Rory. Were you napping?"

Yue smiled and handed Aurora over to John before giving him a soft kiss on the cheek. "You were taking a while, so we took a quick nap."

John shifted Aurora in his arms and smiled. "Sorry about that. Met a lot of interesting candidates today. But enough about me." He poked Aurora's cheek and said, "Were you a good girl for Mommy today, Rory?"

"Ba!" Aurora giggled and then turned her head to bite John's finger.

John laughed.

Yue noticed and sighed. "Little Aurora has been biting a lot of things more often..."

"She's just teething... but we should get her some things to nibble so she doesn't just bite everything."

Yue nodded and said, "That would be good." She sighed and sat down at the dining table. "Raising an infant is a bit... different from how I envisioned..."

John smiled and sat down next to her. "Well, you get the proper experience, not the simple magic baby experience. But you're doing great at it."

Yue smiled and leaned against John. As she did, she hummed and said, "Do you want some tea?"

"After the day I've had... and will probably be having later, that'd be nice, Wifey."

Yue giggled at the pet name and gave John a quick kiss. "Never stop calling me that, Husband~" After that, she smiled and walked over to the kitchen to make some tea.

John laughed and said, "Well, if you keep acting so sweet, I'll never stop."

Yue stuck out her tongue at John and then started pulling out some dried lotus blossoms from the cabinet and setting up the tea pot.

John smiled, watching Yue prepare the tea while holding Aurora in his arms.

Aurora let out a content sigh, still nibbling on John's finger.

John chuckled and said, "Do we need to get you a pacifier, Rory?" He kissed her forehead and said, "Nibbling on Papa's finger isn't a good habit, you know?"

"Ba!" Aurora's eyes sparkled and she bit down harder on John's finger.

He chuckled and then glanced over at Yue. "By the way, where's Meggie?"

Yue hummed and glanced back while waiting for the tea to finish. "She called and said she is staying with her friends today. It seems that they are planning to do something tomorrow morning at school."

John paused and then said, "Right, the thing at school... You aren't going to just expel all those idi- students, right?"

Yue poured a cup of the tea for John and set it down. After pouring herself a cup too, she sat next to him and said, "I want to. But it would be rude to take away my daughter's chance at revenge."

"...Okay, she definitely gets that from you."

Yue sipped on her tea and played innocent. "I have no idea what you are talking about, Husband."

John rolled his eyes. "Sure, Wifey. Whatever you say..."

Yue giggled.

John sipped his tea, making sure to keep the cup out of reach of Aurora. Then he said, "I'm guessing you aren't busy then?"

Yue shook her head. "Not at all. I was simply planning to just spend the evening with you and Little Aurora, Husband."

"Great. Then..." John set his cup of tea down and said, "How about we take Rory to meet her little cousin?"

Yue blinked. "Cousin?"

"Yeah." John stood up and said, "We haven't congratulated Amadeus and Titor on their new baby girl yet. Might as well before things get hectic, right?"