#MishraR3

[potential-fate]

While Darcy rested up, Adam made sure to spend time with their daughter. He didn’t want her to worry that she’d be left out or forgotten. 

She didn’t seem to have any concerns about the future. He just knew what it felt like to be replaced, and didn’t want Shiloh feeling the way he, and presumably Omar, had when they were in their late teens. 

His parents hadn’t adopted Hunter until far later in life, and they had, unfortunately, made it quite clear that half the reason they had was because he and Omar simply weren’t up to standard. Of course, Adam had handled that far differently from his older brother. While Omar had moped around, and then tried everything to get their parent’s attention, Adam had rebelled. He’d left the house as quickly as possible, and when he realized his parents would hate for him to marry Darcy, he’d just considered that icing on top of his already perfect relationship.

But…him leaving had driven a wedge between Omar and him that they’d only recently started to repair.

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Shiloh, for all it was worth, was excited to be a big sister. Cindra and she had talked about it at length and from what she could tell it would be quite fun… once they got past the crying part. The Munoz twins, who were a bit older than her, had allowed her to spend time with them and their little brothers as well, though they seemed less inclined to being older sisters than she or Cindra was. 

Her parents had made it clear they would definitely make time for her still, so she wasn’t that worried. Besides, this meant she’d eventually have a miniature best friend right across the hall. 

She heard her parents talk all the time about how ‘quiet’ and ‘peaceful’ things were nowadays, but she didn’t really get it. She’d asked Cindra, who’d asked Jorah, but still hadn’t gotten a straight answer to why things were not peaceful before. It was only a little frustrating. But she didn’t ask her parents, because every time she had, Momma would get all quiet. 

Cindra had wagered it didn’t really matter, since things were ‘peaceful’ now, and she supposed her best friend was probably right.  

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They were happy together, they enjoyed their respective jobs, and Shiloh was a happy child and soon she’d have a new sibling on the way. 

All things considered, things could certainly be worse.

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Arkhelios, May 2035...

As the spring came to a close, Darcy was just about ready to be done with being pregnant. Her and Adam were quite thrilled to be adding another to their little family, but she was tired, and her back was killing her, and summer in Arkhelios would have been terrible if she was stuck carrying around a small human inside. 

Looking at her life, she’d say they’d been fairly successful, all things considered. Her father had been far too intense, probably more than a little crazy, and had made her an evil twin; Adam’s family had all but disowned him when he’d started dating her. He’d given up all but the Bellamy last name, but she knew he’d been more than willing to do that too. She’d been the one to stop that, in the end. 

Even with Abraham Helios and Salem Bellamy as the terrible lot they’d been stuck with, she and Adam had still managed to get the things they wanted. 

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Baby Eden fit in nicely in the Mishra household. She was a good baby, and didn’t cry very often, living up to her name. 

Darcy stayed home with the baby for the first few months of her life, while Adam continued working at the small hospital in town. It was rather unfortunate really, since Adam had wanted to stay home on paternity leave instead this time. But unfortunately, getting a small hospital up and running in town required as much of the staff’s help as possible. 

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In the end though, Adam thought they were better off. Once he’d gotten away from his mother and father’s iron fist of rules, he had realized he didn’t want the Bellamy namesake or anything that came with it at all. He and Darcy were capable of living their own lives, away from their respective family legacies. 

They could simply live happily in their own little corner of the universe, and the problems that came with the Bellamy or Helios namesake couldn’t touch them. 

He was perfectly happy right where he was.

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Mishra House, Arkhelios...

“Valerie, I’ve not seen you around in a while” Adam smiled at his wife’s old friend. It had been quite a while since he’d seen Darcy hang around with Valerie Willow. 

“Ah… We’ve just been a bit busy. Be glad you don’t have a teenage boy.” She smiled awkwardly. 

Adam tried to remember Valerie’s son’s name off the top of his head. The boy had already been 5 or 6 when Shiloh was born, and he hadn’t kept up with the older kids in town as well as he should have. 

“Valerie!” Darcy cut in, saving her partner from the small talk, “How’s Tanya? Dimitri?” 

Valerie’s attention turned to Darcy, and Adam thanked the gods silently. Dmitri. That had been the kid’s name. He’d been a cute kid, if Adam remembered correctly. A bit of a handful. He’d ended up in the emergency room more than once while Adam was on shift.

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Shiloh was immediately enamored with the small baby. She couldn’t wait to have a playmate. Obviously she knew that would have to wait until the baby was bigger, but she’d have a playmate soon enough. 

Shiloh, of course, didn’t recognize that they were nine years apart, and that might make it hard to play together.

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One evening late in May, Darcy was rushed to the hospital to give birth to her second child. Much like Shiloh, the newest member of the Mishra family came with few complications, and an easy birth. Within 6 hours, Shiloh had a little sister. They named her Eden. 

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“Shiloh, honey?” Darcy called out to her daughter as they got home from the hospital, “Do you want to come meet your baby sister?” 

“Sister?” Shiloh grinned widely, “the baby is a girl?” 

Darcy nodded, leaning down a little so Shiloh could see her new sibling a little better. 

“This is Eden.” She said, “you’re new sister.”

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“What do you want, Narcissa?” Darcy frowned, “I’m a bit busy, in case it wasn’t obvious.” 

Darcy watched as, for once in her life, her sister seemed to hesitate. After a moment, she looked away then said, “Shiloh said I should come…” 

Darcy groaned internally. She really needed to have another chat with her daughter. Narcissa was, at the very least, potentially damaging to their family dynamic. At worst, her sister was downright dangerous. 

“Aunt Nissa! You came!” Darcy flinched upon hearing her daughter’s voice.

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Darcy had been surprised when she’d heard the doorbell. She had been fairly certain that everyone she’d invited was at the party already, but nonetheless she went to answer the door. 

As she opened it, she really couldn’t decide whether or not she was more surprised or less. Her sister crashing her party was certainly less surprising than anyone else being at the door. 

Her sister bothering to use the door at all, on the other hand, was something Darcy had not expected. Not when Narcissa had a talent for seemingly materializing out of nowhere, even when the doors were locked.

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As Adam walked off, Darcy and Valerie danced in the living-room and caught up with their lives. When they were younger, Darcy and Valerie had been almost inseparable, but with time and age, they’d grown apart. Valerie was married with a kid before Darcy had even met Adam. She’d fallen behind her friend in that aspect, and had ended up having more in common with Wanda Hydes than she’d had with Valerie. 

Of course, there was one other incident that had helped create that distance. One night of drinking back years ago, when Adam had been sleeping on their couch due to Darcy’s choice to not marry him and Valerie and Tanya had had a fight the same evening. It hadn’t gone any farther than a little kissing, but they’d both left the night awkwardly, regretting the whole fiasco. They’d also both agreed to pretend it didn’t happen. Their respective partners stayed none the wiser, and it had been chalked up to a simple drunken mistake. 

After years though, while things weren’t quite the same, Darcy and Valerie once more had the same things in common. Valerie had a little girl who was Shiloh’s age, though their kids weren’t really friends yet. She’d had another kid after that who was a year younger. Darcy wondered sometimes how their kids would end up once they hit secondary school and were a bit more independent. Or rather, she wondered if Shiloh would befriend Valerie’s own children, and reignite the friendship she’d had when she was younger. 

Suddenly the doorbell rang, interrupting her and her old friend’s reminiscing.

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Darcy gritted her teeth as she glanced behind her, Shiloh waving from across the room, a happy grin on her face. She couldn’t very easily kick Narcissa out now. 

“I suppose… I suppose you can stay.” She said finally. 

“...Really?” Narcissa seemed surprised. She quickly recovered though, and waved at Shiloh from her current position. 

“Darcy, it would be nice if—” Narcissa stopped suddenly, looking like she might think better of whatever she was about to say, “Never mind. Thanks for inviting me in.” 

As her sister wandered off towards the rest of the guests, some of Darcy’s friends gave her weird looks and backed away as she walked past.

Darcy stood at the doorway, baffled by her sister’s change in demeanor. Narcissa seemed almost…. Normal, for once.