#( oh yeah she's totally fine. Annie doesn't turn her world upside down at all lol )

[the-thieves-gambit]

The affection that she was being showered in at the moment made her feel happy in a way that she didn't think that she could be, even though it was something that happened so many times before. She chalked it up to the nerves she was getting about this trip and what she wanted to say. Smiling at him before smiling back at Annie, she nodded. "Asterix." She repeated to herself. " Well we have a little prince, now we have a little king. I think its a very good name. Did you choose it yourself? "

Chuckling at his eye roll, she added. " Well, it was ten minutes you could've considered winning." As she walked with Annie in her arms to get ready for Wheel, she found herself once again being graced by the intelligence of the girl. The way she processed the world around her and relayed it was something that she would never tire of listening to. After considering what she said for a moment, she spoke again. " I do," Elizabeth answered. " But you don't have to be married, to love someone and have a nickname for them. " She knew what the girl meant but it was a topic she wasn't ready to talk about with anyone just yet. Having even gotten this far in their relationship seemed like a miracle of its own. One that she held onto carefully lest she crush it.

"I can still be your tia, just like I'm Orion's, tia, Annie." She began as she settled next to her on the floor, using cushions to help make their positions more comfortable. "I'm not related to Charlie or Anna or married to either of them but it doesn't make me any less his tia. Some titles are just given because they were earned not because of some prerequisite that was filled in. " There was a saying her father had written once in his journal, the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. She didn't understand the first time she had read it years ago but time showed that it applied to her life in more ways than one. She had come to realize that the chosen bonds in life were more significant than the ones you were born to.

Trying to be as casual as she could be about it, not wanting to let her know that this meant a lot more than she thought she added. " If you think of me as your tia, you can call me it whenever you want. " Thoughts of how she learned to think this way no longer hurt with all the work she had put into healing but she also knew that there was a lot of things that were best not said. " I had a stepmom once. She had puzzles that she always needed help with. She taught me how to do it in my head. With some practice, you'll probably be way better than me at this."

Antares for its part liked the small ones in the family. Never missing an opportunity to cuddle up to the girl, she ate her food and then pawed over to Annie. Purring as she rubbed up against the girls leg before comfortably sitting next to her waiting for pets.

"Hey," she chuckled at him. " These are great skills. She'll be the youngest Wheel of Fortune winner!" The thought of math equations seemed like a horrible way to spend time, it wasn't her cup of tea so to say but she also quirked an eyebrow. About to ask when he became such a math whiz when his niece spoke up instead, making her smile. She was so smart and not afraid of chiming in when she wanted to, even against her uncle. " Yeah, of course we can! We can plan a whole day out around it. When do you want to go? "

Wally didn't need to look over to know how the word tia affected her. He was used to hearing it since he knew Annie really did think the world of Liz and more than that kept wishing that'd she'd become her official aunt at some point in time. Without drawing too much attention he pushed his elbow into her side slightly and showed her a side smile. In the midst of the hug Annie gave her head a kiss like she'd seen a million times before. Though her kiss came with one hand grabbing on her hair gently. "Asterix. It means little star king in French. Trix for short! Do you like it?"

One of his playful eye rolls came as he checked his wrist. "Not too long. Maybe ten minutes. Still, if I'd done that then that'd been considered cheating." His thumb grazed her chin as a small act of affection. The handshake she tried on the pup made him chuckle softly and lean himself against the counter. He handed her over and Annie wrapped her arms around her neck as she watched her uncle go away to feed the cat.

"It's nicknames for people you love. You love him, no? My mami tells my momma sweet names and they're married. My tios Andy and Janny have nicknames for their wives too. So, tio wally has one for you!" She smiled as that was pretty clear to her. When you loved someone enough to make them a wife or husband then nicknames came. Of course to a child who was surrounded by love it was easy for her to grasp the concept and then make it easier to understand for herself. That was love. "I would like you to be real tia. You make my family happy. You make him happy." She remembered telling her this when Wally was in the hospital a long time ago now and was met with the same expression. "Tias only become tias in marriage or family but that one would be weird because it means we'd be blood related." She made a face at that one. "On the floor!"

As Wally was filling the bowl he noticed the cat come on down and pace around him. He still didn't believe Antares liked him better and this proved nothing. As he leaned down Dolly came to lean on his side. One arm lifted to pet her head as Antares got the food and he backed away slowly taking Dolly with him. Wally pointed at her own food at her station and whispered into her fur making the dog's tail wag in happiness. He gave the same love and attention he gave to his nieces and nephews to his animals he shared with his girlfriend.

Annie nodded her head as she got the dry erase marker and uncapped it. Excitement bubbled out of her as her eyes stared at the TV and then looked at Liz. "You're really smart at puzzles. How did you learn?" She asked being curious to know if she was a visual learner or not. A giggle escaped her as she hid her board with her long sleeve.

Wally came back, this time with his own snack, the chocolate covered pretzel sticks and sat down across from them. He shared a look with his love and noticed wheels were turning. Though, over what he wasn't quite sure. "The things you're teaching her." He shook his head and popped a pretzel into his mouth. "If this was a quiz show about math equations, I'd sweep the floor with you two." He teased, he was good at math but mental gymnastics when it came down to it was all lucie's territory. Annie frowned and laughed. "Math is tia lulu. I think your topic would be ancient history, like the pyramids and the era of king tut!" The little girl turned to Liz, excitement on her face. "Can we go to the museum?!"